Moses Itauma To Be Installed As WBO Mandatory; But Would Fabio Wardley Ever Fight Him?

Fresh off his super-impressive, no-one-had-done-it-before, veritable wipe out of the tough, experienced and durable Jermain Franklin, red-hot heavyweight contender Moses Itauma has heard the news that he is almost certain to be installed as the WBO mandatory challenger. The gifted, extremely talented 21 year old southpaw crushed the previously unstopped Franklin with a sizzling left uppercut to the chin that left Franklin flat on his face, this in the fifth round last night.

Now 14-0(12), Itauma has got so many of us convinced he will not only win the world titles when given the chance, but that he could go on to rule the division for a considerable amount of time. Franklin, now 24-3(15), had taken Anthony Joshua’s best shots and he didn’t budge, with the 32 year old also taking a still somewhat fresh Dillian Whyte the distance a while back. In short, if you were not/are not impressed with what you saw from Itauma last night, well, are you a boxing fan?

Moving on, and Itauma, with his level of skill, talent, level-headedness, and of course pure punching power, seems to have the world at his feet. Next up, maybe, it could be a fight with an elite, top-10 guy (providing they don’t all price themselves out here, as some fighters are reported to have already done as a fight with Itauma was put to them). But that mandatory slot seems destined to be Itauma’s soon.

“I will formally recommend to the Championship committee that Mr. Itauma be designated as the mandatory challenger in the WBO heavyweight division,” wrote WBO president Gustavo Olivieri, this on X earlier today.

So, a world title shot come pretty soon for Itauma. However, there is a snag here, and a pretty big one. As fans know, Fabio Wardley is the current WBO heavyweight champ, and not only is he good friends with Itauma, the two men share the same trainer in Ben Davison. Just what will happen if Wardley comes through against Daniel Dubois on May 9 and then finds Itauma as his mandatory challenger, well, we will have to wait and see what happens.

But for now, the future of the heavyweight division looks to be in extremely good hands, maybe even great hands. No matter how the pieces fall, Moses Itauma, it seems WILL be heavyweight king in the not too distant future. Not since the arrival of a seemingly unstoppable typhoon named Mike Tyson have so many of us been as excited about the heavyweights.

I don’t know about you, but for my money, the most fascinating fight to be made in the entire sport right now is one between heavyweight boss Oleksandr Usyk and Itauma. But will this one materialise?