Moses Itauma’s next opponent to potentially be one of two winners of upcoming fights.
Moses Itauma has the look of a very special type of fighter. Each time he has been faced with an opponent who was supposedly his best, he has made it so that a new “best” will have to be found soon after.
In fact, Itauma has been so utterly dominant over the best he’s fought that what he does isn’t simply defeating them. He erases them, reduces them to a smouldering ruin that can’t be identified as something that was once a human being.
This penchant for making wrecks of those who are supposed to trouble him is a big reason Itauma is considered to be so exciting.
We saw it a month ago today when he took five rounds to completely short-circuit Jermaine Franklin, a fighter who had previously only been beaten on points by Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte.
Such was the ease with which Itauma dispatched of his foe, his next outing was never going to be a long way away. And after the fight had concluded, we got reassurance that he would be returning in July.
Last week, a specific date of the 25th of July was revealed, and we also got confirmation that Itauma would be headlining the O2 Arena in London.
His opponent remains unclear right now, but BoxingScene have revealed that two fights in particular are being eyed by his team.
The first of these is Fabio Wardley vs. Daniel Dubois, the upcoming WBO heavyweight title fight. With Itauma ranked #1 by the WBO, it’s very possible he will be made mandatory for the winner.
Should the winner be Wardley, though, an interesting problem will present itself. This is because Itauma and Wardley are both part of the same camp under Ben Davison, which makes a fight between the two very difficult to make.
However, the second fight is Oleksandr Usyk vs. Rico Verhoeven, the curious WBC heavyweight title fight taking place in Egypt.
Usyk’s choice of the kickboxer as his opponent was due to the WBC granting him a voluntary defence. Should Usyk deal with Verhoeven (as he is a massive favourite to do), the WBC have claimed he will have to fight Agit Kabayel, their interim titleholder.
If Usyk refuses, he will very likely be stripped of his belt, upgrading Kabayel to full champion. And with Itauma being the highest-ranked contender (WBC #1 Lawrence Okolie will probably be sidelined for a while), it’s highly possible he and Kabayel will fight for the belt.
What an outcome that would be. However, none of this is for definite. It would be a surprise if the Wardley-Dubois winner would be ready for Itauma in two months; it’s likely the victor of that fight will need quite a bit of time out to rest.
As for a WBC title fight with Kabayel, it’s certainly possible, and there would be enough time between Usyk-Verhoeven and Itauma’s fight date for it to happen.
However, that’s only if Usyk makes his next decision very soon after the Verhoeven fight and the WBC respond promptly in turn.
Another potential opponent is Filip Hrgovic, who Itauma has outright named as someone he’d like to face. However, Hrgovic will be fighting Dave Allen on the 16th of May, and the Croatian will probably not be ready to fight again in July.
Whoever Moses Itauma fights next, good luck to them.
Want to get the latest boxing news direct to your phone? Join our WhatsApp community by clicking here.
