{"id":638066,"date":"2026-04-29T08:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T08:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/638066\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T08:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T08:31:12","slug":"moses-itauma-waits-on-title-chaos-for-july-opponent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/638066\/","title":{"rendered":"Moses Itauma Waits On Title Chaos For July Opponent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxingnews24.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add EBoxing News 24as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqLAgKIiZDQklTRmdnTWFoSUtFR0p2ZUdsdVoyNWxkM015TkM1amIyMG9BQVAB?ceid=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow Boxing News 24 on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The strategy of waiting and watching only works when you have the momentum to back it up, and stopping Jermaine Franklin in five rounds last month, something Anthony Joshua couldn\u2019t do, gave his team the leverage they needed to be picky.<\/p>\n<p>The Lawrence Okolie situation is a massive stroke of luck for Itauma. With Okolie likely being removed from the rankings due to his failed drug test, Itauma doesn\u2019t just move up; he becomes the de facto king in waiting for that No. 1 spot. If Oleksandr Usyk moves past Rico Verhoeven on May 23 and decides the Agit Kabayel mandatory isn\u2019t worth the hassle, Itauma is suddenly fighting for a world title before he\u2019s even had 15 fights.<\/p>\n<p>The only real mess is the Fabio Wardley situation. Since they share a gym, that WBO route is effectively closed as long as Wardley has the belt. Unless Daniel Dubois pulls off an upset on May 9, the WBC is truly his only path to a title in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The danger for Itauma is the date itself, July 25. If the titles don\u2019t settle by mid-June, his team has to pick someone.<\/p>\n<p>Deontay Wilder is the name floating around that carries the most high-risk energy. Wilder is obviously past his best, but as Itauma himself noted, the power is the last thing to go.<\/p>\n<p>Filip Hrgovic is vocal about having Itauma in his contract, but with his May 16 fight against Dave Allen, the turnaround for July is tight.<\/p>\n<p>Itauma is in a rare position where he can afford to let the division come to him. Most 21-year-olds have to take whatever eliminator is thrown their way, but because he\u2019s already held the WBO mandatory position and is a top-three fixture in the WBC, he is essentially holding a winning lottery ticket.<\/p>\n<p>The only real \u201cmess\u201d is the Fabio Wardley situation. Since they share a gym, that WBO route is effectively closed as long as Wardley has the belt. Unless Daniel Dubois pulls off an upset on May 9, the WBC is truly his only path to a title in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Olly Campbell is a boxing journalist who has covered the sport since 2014, providing ringside reporting and technical analysis of major bouts. His work focuses on fighter tendencies, tactical adjustments, and the details that shape high-level competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The strategy of waiting and watching only works when you have the momentum to back it up, and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-638066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}