Moses Itauma‘s team is currently weighing up his options, considering which route he should take to the heavyweight world title. There is one rival calling his name who could tick all of the necessary boxes.
After dismantling Jermaine Franklin in March, promoter Frank Warren announced that Itauma will return on August 8 in London. Following Filip Hrgovic’s quick win over Dave Allen last week, the Croatian is now the frontrunner to be in the opposite corner.
Should Itauma beat the world-level Hrgovic, he will be pushing for a world title either by the end of the year or early next. Currently ranked number one with both the WBO and WBA, he has now been offered a potential route to the IBF as well.
Richard Torrez Jr, who fights in a final eliminator tonight against Frank Sanchez, told Fight Hub TV that he would love to put the young Brit ‘to the test’.
“I think that [Moses Itauma] is a great fighter, I definitely do. I think that he has a great team around him, as well, with the fighters that he has been fighting, and I think that has really been able to showcase his ability even more so.
“I think that styles make fights and I think that, with some of the people that he has been in the ring with, he has really been able to just showcase his style, but I do think that with someone like my style, as a pressure fighter, who is also quick and carries a pop – it would change the way that people fight.
“I am 100% certain that I have the best gas tank in boxing, so I am going to show that and I want to see what happens in the seventh and the eighth round. I want to see what happens when it gets into those dirty waters and you have to grind it out, because that is what I like.
“Let’s make it happen. I want to put Moses to that test and I think that it would be just a great fight, through and through.”
Torrez takes on Cuba’s Sanchez on the Oleksandr Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven undercard, with the winner to be ordered for a shot at champion Oleksandr Usyk in the future. Should the Ukrainian drop the title, which he has done twice at heavyweight in the past, either Torrez or Sanchez will fight for the vacant belt.
Itauma is currently ranked as the IBF’s next available contender outside of Sanchez and Torrez, meaning that if things fall into place for the young heavyweights, fans could see an early battle between two men who have been tipped to be major stars in the division for years to come.
