At the same time, Itauma realistically assesses his chances of such a fight in the near future and understands that for Usyk, a bout with him currently is unlikely to hold sporting or commercial interest.
“I would be thrilled to accept this challenge and fight Oleksandr Usyk. But I'm a realist: why would he want to fight me now? He has much more highly-rated and money-making options,” the Brit admitted.
Itauma's next test will be a fight on March 28 in Manchester against Jermaine Franklin. A victory over the American, according to experts and the boxer himself, could significantly accelerate his climb in the rankings and open up a real prospect of a title fight by the end of the current year.