{"id":257139,"date":"2025-11-11T17:10:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T17:10:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/257139\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T17:10:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T17:10:07","slug":"oleksandr-usyk-has-changed-his-mind-on-potential-moses-itauma-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/257139\/","title":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk has changed his mind on potential Moses Itauma fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> has proven himself to be the heavyweight standout of this era, but Moses Itauma<\/a> has been tipped to dominate the next one. Now, Usyk has changed his mind on a showdown with the young Briton.<\/p>\n

Despite being just 20-years-old, Itauma is believed by many boxing fans to be the most capable candidate when discussing which heavyweight hopeful could dethrone the Ukrainian.<\/p>\n

The youngster has moved effortlessly through the levels, winning inside two rounds in his last nine contests and notably running through both Demsey McKean and Dillian Whyte in first-round<\/a> victories within the last 12 months.<\/p>\n

Speaking to BoxNation<\/a> after Itauma\u2019s most recent victory, against Whyte, Usyk admitted his belief that the Chatham-based southpaw is both the \u2018future of boxing\u2019 and ready to challenge for the heavyweight throne.<\/p>\n

\u201c[He is] a great man, a great fighter. I think that Itauma is the future for boxing, I like this guy. Yeah, [he is ready for me now], definitely.<\/p>\n

However, in a Q&A with Ready to Fight<\/a>, Usyk backtracked on those comments and said that he will not face the undefeated lefty, as he is too young.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I won\u2019t fight Itauma. He\u2019s young \u2014 always teasing me. And he said himself he doesn\u2019t hit grandpas. I can\u2019t say who exactly [will be my next fight], because negotiations are ongoing. I\u2019d be lying if I gave you a name.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Itauma will return to action on January 24, where he will be tasked with Michigan\u2019s Jermaine Franklin<\/a>; who lasted 12 rounds against Anthony Joshua in 2023 and lost a controversial majority decision to Dillian Whyte the year before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk has proven himself to be the heavyweight standout of this era, but Moses Itauma has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-257139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}