Moses Itauma put on a clinical display at the weekend and continues to be linked to a fight with Oleksandr Usyk as a result.
Despite being only 20 years old and having had just 12 fights prior to Saturday night against Dillian Whyte, Itauma dealt with the former world title challenger inside the first two minutes of the contest.
The win marks his his ninth consecutive stoppage inside the first two rounds and by far his most impressive given that Whyte has previously beaten the likes of Joseph Parker, Derek Chisora and Alexandr Povetkin and has only lost to Povetkin in their first bout, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
Despite that, speaking on Froch on Fighting, ‘The Cobra’ warned against moving Itauma too fast despite his skills, particularly against undisputed king Usyk, saying it could ‘finish’ Itauma if he did step in the ring with the Ukrainian great next.
“You can’t rush Itauma. For me, if I’m managing Itauma, I’m not putting him straight in with Usyk, an old veteran who has hundreds and hundreds of amateur and undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight and title fights underneath him and chucking him in with a 20-year-old, cause that could be the finishing of him couldn’t it.”
Other people in the sport, including Fury, already think that the young star has enough to beat Usyk, despite the considerable difference in their experience.
Itauma himself himself said he would take the fight, however admitted there were contenders more deserving at this moment. The young star has revealed that his team instead want him in with a durable heavyweight like Jermaine Franklin.
One other fight that is being linked that does seem to make sense is with Filip Hrgovic, who beat David Adeleye on the undercard and has fought the likes of Zhilei Zhang and Daniel Dubois and would provide another step up in opposition.
