{"id":516629,"date":"2026-04-06T22:41:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T22:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/516629\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T22:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T22:41:07","slug":"former-heavyweight-champion-now-willing-to-face-moses-itauma-im-not-dodging-anyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/516629\/","title":{"rendered":"Former heavyweight champion now willing to face Moses Itauma: “I’m not dodging anyone”"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former world heavyweight champion has welcomed a potential battle against Moses Itauma<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Highly-rated Itauma has been viewed as one of the brightest prospects in the entire sport over the past few years, but he has now arguably surpassed that status and has already earned his placement as one of the best heavyweights in the division.<\/p>\n

Last time out, Itauma did something that Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte were unable to do by defeating Jermaine Franklin inside the distance, earning a fifth round knockout win thanks to a devastating uppercut that left the American face first on the canvas.<\/p>\n

When it comes to picking the next opponent for the 21-year-old, WBA Regular heavyweight champion Murat Gassiev and top contender Filip Hrgovic have been named as possible options<\/a>, but now a former long-term titleholder has thrown his hat into the ring.<\/p>\n

That man is Deontay Wilder, as speaking in the post-fight press conference<\/a> following his win over Derek Chisora on Saturday, \u2018The Bronze Bomber\u2019 said he would welcome a clash against Itauma.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy not? I\u2019m not dodging anyone. I\u2019m a veteran in the game. I\u2019m looking forward to fighting any and all. If the fans want to see it then why not?<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know who Moses was, I saw his last fight against Franklin, what a hell of a KO. He seems like a potential champion. Why not test him out?\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilder held the WBC heavyweight title for five years but has suffered a number of defeats in recent years. He is hoping to have turned over a new leaf following his win against Chisora<\/a>, with a clash against Itauma seemingly one option for the hard-hitting American.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former world heavyweight champion has welcomed a potential battle against Moses Itauma. Highly-rated Itauma has been viewed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-516629","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\/516629","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=516629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}