21-Year-Old Boxing Phenom to Showcase Datavault AI Brand in Manchester Showdown Against Jermaine Franklin
PHILADELPHIA, PA / ACCESS Newswire / March 25, 2026 / Datavault AI Inc. ("Datavault AI" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:DVLT), a provider of data monetization, credentialing, digital engagement, and real-world asset ("RWA") tokenization technologies, today announced that it has entered into a partnership agreement with undefeated British heavyweight boxing sensation Moses Itauma. The 21-year-old Commonwealth champion's highly anticipated bout against Jermaine Franklin will be on March 28, 2026, at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England, and will be broadcast globally on DAZN. The partnership reflects Datavault AI's strategic focus on elite combat sports talent as the Company builds out its athlete name, image, and likeness ("NIL") digital asset exchange platform, being developed in exploratory collaboration with Sports Illustrated.
Itauma (13-0, 11 KOs) is widely regarded as one of boxing's most explosive young talents. The Commonwealth heavyweight champion has demolished every opponent in his professional career, including a stunning first-round knockout of former world title challenger Dillian Whyte in August 2025. Named The Ring's 2024 Prospect of the Year, Itauma represents the next generation of heavyweight boxing excellence - the caliber of athlete Datavault AI envisions partnering with as its NIL platform advances.
"Moses Itauma represents the future of heavyweight boxing - the exact caliber of athlete we envision working with as we build out our NIL platform," said Nathaniel Bradley, CEO of Datavault AI. We're proud to support him at this pivotal moment in his career, and we look forward to exploring how Datavault AI's technology can serve elite athletes like Moses as they build and protect their digital legacies. His March 28 fight in Manchester gives us a global platform to showcase our commitment to the next generation of athletic excellence."
"When I saw Datavault AI's commitment in this space of combat sports, I became very excited about this partnership. They did some great things with the WBC, and I'm excited to replicate and maybe even go one step better," said Moses Itauma. "My team and family business, Tunnel Culture, are in the perfect position to help execute and bring this to life."
The parties are exploring the potential expansion of the partnership beyond the March 28 fight to include potential participation in Datavault AI's forthcoming NIL digital asset exchange platform. As Datavault AI advances its platform, targeting a commercial launch in the second half of 2026, the Company sees athletes like Itauma as ideal partners to demonstrate how emerging technologies can empower athletes to control and monetize their name, image, and likeness rights in innovative ways. The collaboration could extend to training camp content, behind-the-scenes access, and fan engagement opportunities that leverage Datavault AI's proprietary technology.
The Itauma partnership builds on Datavault AI's January 28, 2026 announcement of its exploratory partnership with Sports Illustrated to develop a proprietary, sports-focused digital asset exchange platform. That collaboration, targeting a commercial launch in the second half of 2026, aims to create the definitive destination for NIL monetization - powered by Datavault AI's patented Data Vault®, DataScore®, and DataValue® artificial intelligence ("AI") agents, smart contracts, and Nasdaq Financial Framework-compatible Information Data Exchange® ("IDE").
With the U.S. collegiate NIL market projected to reach $2.55 billion in 2026¹ and the global sports sponsorship and endorsement market forecasted to surge to $195.5 billion by 2032², Datavault AI is positioning itself at the forefront of athlete representation and digital asset innovation. The Company's quantum-secure technology platform enables transparent, efficient, and globally scalable NIL trading across borders.
This announcement follows hot on the heels of Datavault AI's recent definitive agreement to acquire NYIAX, merging institutional-grade infrastructure with AI-powered data monetization for tokenized assets - including NIL rights.
Sources:
1 Opendorse market projection, as cited in CNBC's Official College Sports Valuations 2025 (December 19, 2025). https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/19/cnbc-official-college-sports-valuations-2025-top-75-athletic-programs.html
2 ResearchAndMarkets.com, "Sports Sponsorship Market - Global Forecast 2025-2032 https://www.researchandmarkets.com/report/sports-sponsorship
About Datavault AI Inc.
Datavault AI TM (NASDAQ:DVLT) is leading the way in AI-driven data experiences, valuation, and monetization of assets in the Web 3.0 environment. The Company's cloud-based platform provides comprehensive solutions with a collaborative focus in its Acoustic Sciences and Data Sciences divisions. Datavault AI's Acoustic Sciences division features WiSA®, ADIO®, and Sumerian® patented technologies and industry-first foundational spatial and multichannel wireless, high-definition sound transmission technologies with intellectual property covering audio timing, synchronization, and multi-channel interference cancellation. The Data Science Division leverages the power of Web 3.0 and high-performance computing to provide solutions for experiential data perception, valuation, and secure monetization. Datavault AI's cloud-based platform provides comprehensive solutions serving multiple industries, including high-performance computing software licensing for sports & entertainment, events & venues, biotech, education, fintech, real estate, healthcare, energy, and more. The Information Data Exchange®
