{"id":645293,"date":"2026-06-18T12:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T12:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645293\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T12:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T12:50:14","slug":"rival-promoter-says-he-has-the-heavy-handed-heavyweight-to-beat-moses-itauma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645293\/","title":{"rendered":"Rival promoter says he has the ‘heavy-handed’ heavyweight to beat Moses Itauma"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Moses Itauma<\/a> looks to become the next dominant force of heavyweight boxing, he could soon find himself on a collision course with one of the division\u2019s most destructive punchers.<\/p>\n

At this stage in his career, the 21-year-old has shown signs of world-class potential but is yet to fully cement himself at such a level.<\/p>\n

His last outing resulted in a fifth-round stoppage of Jermaine Franklin<\/a> who, while known for his durability, was ultimately unable to weather a ferocious storm.<\/p>\n

But while this triumph in March could only be described as a stepping stone towards world level, Itauma is already ranked No.1 with both the WBO and WBA.<\/p>\n

As the WBA\u2019s leading contender, the Brit could soon find himself in a world title fight with Murat Gassiev, who currently holds the sanctioning body\u2019s \u2018Regular\u2019 belt.<\/p>\n

For such a matchup to materialise, Oleksandr Usyk would need to vacate, or be stripped of, his WBA strap, allowing Itauma to challenge for the full world title.<\/p>\n

But while many would favour Itauma to emerge victorious, Gassiev\u2019s promoter, Al Siesta, has told Sky Sports<\/a> that the Russian\u2019s power should not be overlooked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are stories, hidden in the dressing rooms of the sparring camps, about how heavy-handed Murat Gassiev actually is.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who\u2019ve sparred him, and fought him, know all about his power. I truly believe he will unify the division.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it will be Moses Itauma, [it could be] Daniel Dubois \u2013 whoever that might be, they will be on a collision course with Murat Gassiev.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually wanted to make a fight against Moses Itauma, but it didn\u2019t work out. Hopefully we will get it soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe Moses is a great prospect, and he might be the future, but, for me\u2026 [Gassiev] is the present.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gassiev will face Tony Yoka at Moscow\u2019s VTB Arena on July 11<\/a>, with the former unified cruiserweight champion entering arguably his most meaningful assignment as a heavyweight.<\/p>\n

Itauma, meanwhile, is expected to return to action at London\u2019s O2 Arena towards the end of August, potentially against top 10 heavyweight Filip Hrgovic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Moses Itauma looks to become the next dominant force of heavyweight boxing, he could soon find himself…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-645293","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\/645293","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=645293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}