“Like, I never quit, so I just go back to the drawing board. I have to change something.”
His “back to the drawing board” attitude is a classic fighting mentality, but at 24-3, the “s**t” he needs to change probably involves more than just a new game plan. Itauma is the real thing, and losing him is not a career-loving thing, but Franklin is quickly moving into that dangerous zone where he risks becoming more of a quality gatekeeper than a true competitor.
He obviously has heart, but the heavyweight division is unforgiving. If he doesn’t strengthen that defense and stick to the right path, those “sky’s the limit” aspirations will be hard to achieve.
“I fell. I feel like I could have stood up, but they stopped the fight.”
Franklin’s comments are an example of “fighter’s pride” meeting a harsh reality. When a guy says he could get up after falling face first from a very high place, it’s usually a mix of adrenaline and a little denial.
Referee Steve Gray stopped the fight quickly for a reason. Franklin didn’t just go down; he was on his feet before he even hit the sail. Reports from the night described him as “unfeeling” and “agitated” before the final right hand sent him to the ground. In boxing, if you fall straight, you lose the right to complain about being stopped.
Historically, when a heavyweight goes down head-on, the referee is trained to prioritize his long-term health over 10 figures. Franklin’s body language did not suggest he was “there.”
“I feel like I’m a little far from the coaches’ game plan.
Calling that “caught in the fist” is like the Titanic having a little run in with the ice. It’s a huge understatement that completely ignores how Moses Itauma was breaking him from the opening bell.
Franklin’s “game plan” went out the window because Itauma didn’t give him the space to execute it. The truth of that fifth round was much clearer than Franklin let on.
“I mean the sky’s the limit.”
That’s a big indicator from a guy who was just stopped in five rounds. When the 32-year-old heavyweight says “the sky’s the limit” after falling to 1-3 in his last 4, it sounds less than ambitious and more like a complete departure from his current standing in the division.
In the corporate world, “the sky” often refers to global headlines and high paydays. For Franklin, those doors are closing fast for a few obscure reasons:
He looked great at 258 lbs. If he doesn’t get the discipline to return to the 234 lbs range, where he competed against Anthony Joshua, his ceiling is not “the sky.”
Before last Saturday, Franklin’s calling card was his chin. Now that Moses Itauma has provided the outline of how to break it down, every matchman in the UK and US sees him as the name to beat to build their hopes.
There’s no shame in being a top goalie, but Franklin’s comments suggest he hasn’t embraced that role yet. To get back to “the sky,” he’ll need a streak of three or four wins against the top 15 talents. Based on his recent form against Dychko and now Itauma, that sounds mathematically and physically impossible.
He talks like a prospect with time on his right hand, but in reality the clock is ticking. Unless “the sky” means a decent payday as someone against someone like Fabio Wardley, he’s not seeing the full picture.
