Moses Itauma is set to become the mandatory challenger for the WBO heavyweight title, potentially putting him on a collision course with stablemate Fabio Wardley.
The 21-year-old produced another emphatic result on Saturday, handing Jermaine Franklin his first stoppage defeat with a fifth-round victory in Manchester. Itauma is now 14-0, with 12 wins by knockout.
WBO president Gustavo Olivieri posted on X that after Itauma “further affirmed his standing within the division as a rising star” the Brit would be “formally recommended” for a shot at the organisation’s heavyweight belt.
Wardley, who shares trainer Ben Davison with Itauma, will defend the championship against Daniel Dubois on May 9. If Wardley wins, Itauma said it could create a “sticky predicament.” He backed Wardley to beat Dubois, saying: “I think Fabio can [beat Dubois]. Fabio keeps surprising everyone. If you write him off he’ll end up smashing Dubois out. You don’t really know what to expect from Fabio but I’d probably say Fabio wins. He’s obviously in the same gym as me so that would be a sticky predicament. Everything can make sense, it all makes sense.”
When reflecting on his rise, Itauma said: “When I first turned professional, I thought I would win titles but I didn’t think it would be so soon. I’m just a young boy chasing a dream.”
Speaking late last year, after Wardley was promoted to full WBO champion following Oleksandr Usyk vacating the title, Wardley told Sky Sports about a potential showdown with Itauma: “Who knows how the future’s going to go? Right now me and Moses are on our own courses. We both need to grab our world titles first, before we’re able to have conversations about crossing swords ourselves. There’s enough out there for the pair of us to have a go at and just occupy ourselves before we need to start having a serious think about getting in the ring at the same time.”
Itauma has expressed a desire to fight Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, but he does not expect those opportunities to come soon. On Usyk he said: “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.” Regarding Fury, Itauma added: “I don’t think Tyson would want to take [a fight]. I don’t know. For example, he’s got a big fight with Anthony Joshua, a fight can still gross massively. He knows there are a lot of other fights he probably would be able to make more money off and they wouldn’t be as much of a fight. It doesn’t really make sense for him.”
Usyk and Fury may be a way off, but with the WBO recommendation now likely, fights involving Dubois or Wardley could be on Itauma’s near-term horizon.