As a former world champion, Amir Khan has offered insight into whether or not Moses Itauma should be fighting Oleksandr Usyk sooner rather than later.
Khan was a young boxing superstar who won silver in the Athens Olympics aged just 17, then turned over and became one of the youngest ever British world champions when he became the WBA ruler aged just 22 in 2009, when he beat Andreas Kotelnik for the super-lightweight belt.
Itauma is still only 20-years-old and has had just 13 fights, with 11 of them being KO wins and nine of them in the first two rounds, including Dillian Whyte last time out.
Speaking to iFL TV, Khan named some potential next opponents for him, then laid out the reasons why he wouldn’t yet put him in with Usyk.
“I would put him in next with Hrgovic, and I’d put him after that with Parker. Too soon for Usyk, I don’t think he should take that fight yet, give it another 12-18 months for that fight.
“He’s only 20, so he’s very young and sometimes fights like that can destroy you, your career, your confidence and everything. We don’t know what he’s going to be like when he gets beat.
“I might say I’ll never do it again, you don’t know how a fighter is going to react so why put him in a position like that? Build him, he could become a superstar if he is managed well.”
Itauma himself called out Usyk in the ring following his win, but Khan is not alone in thinking it is too soon for him to take on the first-ever two-time undisputed heavyweight champion, with others from the boxing world also agreeing.
