The heavyweights meet at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena on Saturday night. The Queensberry event will be broadcast live by DAZN.

“I’ve been turning down questions about other fighters,” Itauma said at Thursday’s final press conference.

“When I get asked about other fighters, that's not going to happen if I don't get through Jermaine Franklin. So this is a serious fight and I'm looking forward to it.”

Itauma (13-0, 11 KOs) and Franklin (24-2, 15 KOs) have been circling each other since the clash was first announced last November and have discussed each and every aspect of the fight time and time again.

Itauma has recovered from the torn biceps that caused the fight to be postponed from its original January date and, almost five months later, the core questions remain the same.

Will the experienced Franklin be able to extend the 21-year-old beyond the opening couple of rounds?

What happens if he can?

If Itauma does become the first man to stop Franklin, where exactly is his ceiling?

“We asked for this fight like a year and a half ago or something like that,” Itauma said.

“There's questions that my team want to know about me. There's questions that I want to know about myself and I'm sure that there's a lot of questions that the fans wants to know about me as well. I feel like Jermaine Franklin is the final piece of the puzzle.”

Itauma’s team selected Franklin because of his reputation for toughness and resilience.

The 32-year-old Michigan man has been billed as the man who took two-time heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, and former title challenger, Dillian Whyte, the distance but he still has ambitions of his own.

In October he took Ivan Dychko’s undefeated record and knows that beating Itauma would change the course of his career.

He promised “a war” and isn’t concerned at being written off as a chapter in Itauma’s story.

“People are going to feel how they feel,” he said.

“You know, people can have their own opinions or whatever. I know what I’ve come to do and I know what I can do so I'm not too much worried about how people feel or their opinions.”

If the fight represents a pivotal moment in Franklin’s career, it is also a crucial step in Itauma’s development.

He has accumulated just 26 rounds of professional experience since he turned professional back in January of 2023 but is already seen as the man to take over from the division’s current ruler, The Ring and unified champion, Oleksandr Usyk.

Franklin represents a solid test but Itauma has generated such excitement that many see an impressive victory as a foregone conclusion.

“I'd rather be the underdog of a fight,” Itauma said.

“But I asked for it. Obviously, I can't put the performances on that I have and not expect people to have such high expectations of me so I've asked for it.

“Would I like to live in a different world? Probably, but it's necessary. It's necessary pressure.”