Oleksandr Usyk has been offered, maybe his biggest warning yet, about a potential title fight with Moses Itauma by the cousin of one of boxing’s biggest stars.
Improving to 13-0 over the weekend, unbeaten heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma made light work of former interim WBC champion Dillian Whyte, finishing the veteran with a hellacious opening round knockout win.
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And given his continued rise through the heavyweights, Slovak-born contender Itauma continues to find himself linked to the biggest names in the sport.
Most notably, a blockbuster undisputed heavyweight title fight with Oleksandr Usyk has already been mooted for the emerging starlet.
Moses Itauma backed to cause Oleksandr Usyk serious trouble
Reacting to Itauma’s stunning win over Whyte, former undisputed WBC heavyweight champion and common foe of Whyte, Tyson Fury offered massive praise to the undefeated prospect.
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And with Fury’s backing for Itauma to “wreck” Usyk in a future pairing, Harlem Eubank — the cousin of Chris Eubank Jr., has touted the undefeated force to bring a real fight to the Ukrainian force if they’re matched up.
“He (Moses Itauma) does a lot of stuff that heavyweights don’t do,” Eubank told Seconds Out. “In a lot of ways, he moves like a middleweight.
“It makes him a very, very dangerous man in the heavyweight division.
“It’s a bold statement, but I think his style is all wrong for (Oleksandr) Usyk,” Eubank continued. “…I’m gonna take criticizm for saying it, but when you watch Usyk against the smaller guys that can move, guys like (Mairis) Briedis were his toughest challenges.”
But despite claims from both Fury and Eubank about his chances of toppling the perfect Usyk, Itauma himself is not so sure if he even deserves to share the ring with the Ukrainian star.
Moses Itauma plays down Oleksandr Usyk fight
Off the back of his win over Whyte in the Middle East, Itauma was pegged as a potential charge to Usyk next by Saudi royal adviser Turki Alalshikh, who expressed his interest in seeing that fight next.
But weighing up his options, Itauma played down his chances of fighting the undisputed heavyweight champion in just his fourteenth career fight — questioning whether he deserves to face Usyk immediately.
“I put on a performance for you guys, so it’s now ‘who’s next?’” Itauma said after his win over Whyte.
“I don’t want to call out (Oleksandr) Usyk because I don’t believe I deserve the opportunity.
“But guys that do deserve the opportunity – I want to fight those lot.”