Moses Itauma would ‘love a shot’ at Oleksandr Usyk, but why would he want to fight a 21-year-old? | Boxing News

Rising heavyweight phenom Moses Itauma would welcome a fight with the best in the division, Oleksandr Usyk.

But Itauma, only 21 years old and already the No 1-ranked contender with the WBA and the WBO, doesn’t expect to get the chance to fight the great Ukrainian any time soon.

“I’d love to have the shot,” Itauma told Sky Sports. But he added: “There’s no need to fight me, why would Usyk fight me?

“Obviously he’s got other people on the agenda. Not only that he’s got a whole list of people that, I guess, are in front of me. As in like Fabio Wardley, you’ve got [Agit] Kabayel. These guys I guess deserve the opportunity to fight for a world title.

“Obviously if the opportunity was presented to myself then I’d love to take it of course.”

Tyson Fury’s return adds another dimension to the exciting heavyweight division. But similarly Itauma isn’t anticipating a fight with Fury in the near future.

“I don’t think Tyson would want to take that. I don’t know,” Itauma said.

“For example, he’s got a big fight with Anthony Joshua, as in that fight can still gross massively. He himself knows that there are a lot of other fights that he probably would be able to make more money off and they wouldn’t be as much of a fight. So it doesn’t really make sense for him.”

With his high world ranking Itauma should be in a frame to fight for a world championship this year. But he will have to wait for his opportunity.

“I’m in a predicament where obviously I’ve surpassed the British level and then the guys at the world level they don’t really want to fight me because why would they fight a 21-year-old? I’m stuck in a little bit of a predicament. We’ll see. It’s not really in my hands,” Itauma explained.

Even boxing the winner of May’s WBO heavyweight world title fight between Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois could be complicated. Wardley and Itauma share a trainer in Ben Davison.

“If Daniel Dubois wins then that makes sense. Fabio Wardley’s obviously in the same gym as me so that would be a sticky predicament,” Itauma reflected.

“I think Fabio can do it. Fabio keeps surprising everyone anyway so if you write off Fabio he’ll end up smashing Dubois out anyway so it doesn’t really matter what you think.

“You don’t really know what to expect from Fabio. I’d probably say Fabio wins, to be honest.”

Though he didn’t entirely rule out a Wardley fight.

“Everything can make sense,” Itauma said, “it all makes sense, but as of right now I’ve got Jermaine Franklin.”

Itauma will box American contender Franklin on March 28 in Manchester. Franklin is a seasoned heavyweight who’s gone the distance with both Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. Most recently he handed a first professional defeat to Olympic medallist Ivan Dychko.

Franklin has had 149 rounds of action in his 26-bout professional career compared to Itauma, who has been taken just 26 rounds in his unbeaten, 13-bout career. In fact it’s been more than two years since an opponent has lasted more than two rounds with Itauma.

As well being dominant in his professional career to date, Itauma was a brilliant amateur boxer, who excelled at Junior and Youth level. Franklin on paper is the toughest fight of his boxing life.

“There you go. It’s an interesting fight,” the young Briton said.

“I think Jermaine Franklin’s a tougher fight than Dillian Whyte, to be honest. People don’t really see it that way because of what Dillian Whyte’s achieved.

“[Franklin] is tough, he’s durable, what’s question marks in my career he does very well. It’s a good fight, it almost seems perfect.”