After his impressive knockout of Jermaine Franklin, Moses Itauma is expected to soon be named the mandatory challenger for the WBO heavyweight title. WBO president Gustavo Olivieri said immediately after the Briton’s win that he would recommend that move to the ratings committee. Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois will fight for the WBO heavyweight title on May 9.
At the same time, Itauma promoter Frank Warren has made no secret of the fact that he would like to match his fighter with Oleksandr Usyk.
“I like Oleksandr Usyk. If you look at him, his belts, his résumé,” Warren said. “His next fight for money is with a kickboxer [Rico Verhoeven in May at the Pyramids of Giza] — good luck to him. But he says he wants big fights. Don’t you think we’d sell out Wembley Stadium if Moses Itauma fought Usyk there? We’d fill it five or six times over right now. The pay-per-view numbers, the viewing figures would go through the roof. I really think that fight should happen, and it could be ordered.”
“I’m very careful with what I do with fighters, as you know. But I’d make that fight right now. Styles make fights. Itauma is young, he has speed. Usyk is a magnificent fighter. But Itauma is something special. At this point, he is the best of anyone I’ve ever come across in the heavyweight division, without any doubt,” Warren added.
“Usyk has earned the right to do whatever he wants,” Itauma said after his stoppage win over Franklin. “There’s a hierarchy that I obviously have to respect. I don’t pay attention to it. I really don’t care what other heavyweights think or feel. I know the truth and I know what I’m capable of — I just have to go out there and show it.”
