{"id":331002,"date":"2025-12-23T04:50:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T04:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/331002\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T04:50:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T04:50:24","slug":"moses-itauma-called-out-to-accept-final-eliminator-for-heavyweight-title-ive-already-said-yes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/331002\/","title":{"rendered":"Moses Itauma called out to accept final eliminator for heavyweight title: “I’ve already said yes”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lawrence Okolie<\/a> has confirmed his interest in a potential showdown with Moses Itauma<\/a>, hoping to take himself one step closer towards a world title shot.<\/p>\n

The former world cruiserweight champion will return to action this Sunday in Lagos, Nigeria, against Ebenezer Tetteh, a relatively short-notice opponent.<\/p>\n

But with Okolie expected to storm through his assignment in double-quick fashion, his mind has already drifted towards a more meaningful challenge.<\/p>\n

It was announced at the WBC convention earlier this month that the 33-year-old has been ordered to face Itauma in a final eliminator for Oleksandr Usyk\u2019s belt.<\/p>\n

And while Okolie must first take care of business this weekend, he has nonetheless insisted that a clash with the 20-year-old prodigy very much piques his interest.<\/p>\n

Itauma, meanwhile, also has his hands full, with an intriguing test against durable customer Jermaine Franklin<\/a> taking place on January 24 at the Co-op Live Arena, Manchester.<\/p>\n

Headlining the Queensberry Promotions event next month, Itauma, whose last nine outings have gone no further than two rounds, is expected to encounter his toughest challenge thus far.<\/p>\n

But Okolie, of course, is no stranger to the young knockout artist, having previously shared rounds with the then-15-year-old prospect in sparring.<\/p>\n

Since then, Itauma has only continued to develop his formidable reputation<\/a>, with many regarding him as the heir apparent to bona fide heavyweight king Usyk.<\/p>\n

But despite the undefeated southpaw\u2019s undeniable talent and potential, Okolie has told Boxing News that the WBC final eliminator will certainly be on his radar in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve already said yes [to Queensberry] \u2013 I\u2019m up for boxing Moses. I hope he says the same, and we\u2019ll make that one happen after we both win our next fights.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a fight against someone like Moses, who\u2019s a huge name in the UK, it\u2019s like, \u2018Okay, am I still young and strong and powerful enough to continue my trajectory? Or is this new young hotshot going to be the one [to end his ambition of winning a world heavyweight title]?\u2019 I want to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[Franklin] is going to be a really good learning fight for him. If he\u2019s not able to knock him out early, he\u2019s going to gain some valuable experience.<\/p>\n

\u201c[But] I hope [Itauma] knocks him out in the first round, so he doesn\u2019t learn anything. And then, when me and him fight, there can still be those questions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawrence Okolie has confirmed his interest in a potential showdown with Moses Itauma, hoping to take himself one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-331002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331002","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=331002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}