{"id":369629,"date":"2026-01-14T16:26:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T16:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/369629\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T16:26:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T16:26:06","slug":"ben-shalom-says-he-has-the-heavyweight-to-beat-moses-itauma-well-take-that-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/369629\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Shalom says he has the heavyweight to beat Moses Itauma: “We’ll take that fight”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom believes he has the man to beat Moses Itauma, putting an end to the heavyweight prodigy\u2019s ruthless run of scintillating knockouts.<\/p>\n

Itauma, who recently turned 21, was gearing up to face Jermaine Franklin next week, only for the precocious talent to sustain an injury during his training camp.<\/a><\/p>\n

As a result, the Chatham man will instead collide with Franklin on March 28,<\/a> hoping to be the first man to stop the durable customer who, most notably, has previously lost to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte.<\/p>\n

But while Itauma may encounter his toughest test thus far as a professional, there is equally a chance that Martin Bakole may introduce him to an even harsher assignment later this year.<\/p>\n

Boxxer boss Shalom has admitted to feeling frustrated over a missed opportunity for Bakole to face Itauma \u2013 which was discussed towards the end of last year \u2013 but hopes their potential clash can soon be revisited.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old has not fought since his controversial draw with Efe Ajagba in May<\/a>, when many felt he was fortunate to not suffer a third professional loss.<\/p>\n

Prior to that, the Congolese giant stepped in on just two days\u2019 notice to face Joseph Parker in February, hitting the scales at a staggering 310lbs before finding himself on the receiving end of an emphatic second-round finish.<\/p>\n

While speaking with Boxing News and other reporters, Shalom teased that Bakole could finally return to action in the not too distant future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been frustrating for us. We fought Parker, Efe Ajagba, were offered [Filip] Hrgovic in August, had the opportunity to fight Moses\u2026 Again, Martin will take anything, [but] people around him have to accept the fights as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe he has the talent to be the best heavyweight in the world, but has he prepared in the way that he [should have done] for the last couple of fights? No.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully we will have news on [Bakole] soon. I like the Moses fight. I think he can beat Moses. I think he can beat anyone on his day.\u201d<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether Bakole is still a viable option for Itauma, who must first take care of business against Franklin in over two months\u2019 time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom believes he has the man to beat Moses Itauma, putting an end to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-369629","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\/369629","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=369629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}