Derek Chisora knows what it’s like to fight Oleksandr Usyk, who could soon be a target of young heavyweight hopeful Moses Itauma.
These two heavyweights are at polar opposite ends of their careers. Usyk is approaching 40 and has done it all, from an Olympic Gold Medal to the undisputed cruiserweight championship, before also clearing out the heavyweight division – notching up double wins over each of Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois – on his way to becoming a two-time undisputed heavyweight king. Before those standout victories, he had a rough and tough night against Chisora, but came through as he is known to do.
Itauma, meanwhile, is just 20 years old. He is one of the hottest prospects in the sport with 11 KO wins from 13 fights, nine of them inside the first two rounds. Most recently, he stopped Dillian Whyte in two minutes and said he was open to challenging Usyk afterwards, though his team may want to build him slightly more cautisously.
Speaking to Ring Magazine after witnessing the Whyte KO, ‘Del Boy’ was honest in his assessment of how a fight between the two may go at this stage.
“Usyk will blow the smoke out of him, Usyk will kill him.”
Many others in the sport agree that it is too soon for Itauma to step up and that he should do some more learning before taking the division’s ultimate test. However, Fury, who has long hyped Itauma as the future of boxing, thinks he has what it takes to win.
Itauma is expected back out in December, while Usyk recently had an order to face interim champion pushed back due to injury, however that has now been called into question.