Some in boxing are keen to see Moses Itauma take a huge step up and fight Oleksandr Usyk next.
Usyk is one of the best boxing talents of the last 25 years and he has the records to prove it, as a former undisputed cruiserweight champion turned two-time undisputed heavyweight ruler.
He is, however, now 38 and has had a long career, which means some think he might be vulnerable to the fast hands and punching power of 20-year-old Itauma, while others feel it is best for the youngster to wait and bide his time.
The southpaw is very much still learning the game with just 13 fights and 11 wins by KO under his belt.
In a post on his own social media, Tyson Fury revealed how he sees Itauma getting on were he to fight Usyk now, backing the Brit to be the first man to beat the Ukrainian.
“I keep getting asked about young Moses Itauma fighting Oleksandr Usyk and fighting all the other big names. My opinion is not someone who doesn’t know boxing. My opinion is someone who has been there and won every single belt. Won everything there is to win in boxing and done very well. Boxing is a young man’s game, like I told Wladimir Klitschko when he was 37. Boxing is a young man’s game. It waits for nobody.
So here is the opinion, and you heard it here first: Moses Itauma will wreck all them all old men out of the division. Usyk, AJ, Miller. Whoever there is that’s old. Zhang, whoever else the f—k there is. Luis Ortiz. All these big names of the past. Even the man who took my belts. Usyk, Moses will wreck him because it’s a young man versus an old man. And an old man can’t mess with a young man.”
For now, it seems like Itauma’s team is building him sensibly, with a December return against the likes of Flip Hrgovic, or Kubrat Pulev.
As for Usyk, nobody knows his next move. He has been granted an extension on negotiations with mandatory challenger Joseph Parker, though may ultimately decide to vacate the belt in favour of a more lucrative match-up.
