Frank Warren predicts step up to world level for ‘special’ Itauma

Moses Itauma will look to extend his unbeaten record this weekend against Mike Balogun at the OVO Hydro Arena on the Josh Taylor vs Ekow Essuman undercard.

This will be Itauma’s first fight of 2025 after a short battle with injury and he will be looking to pick up where he left off last year, with a knockout.

His promoter Frank Warren has predicted a world championship and more for the heavyweight.

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Warren, on the Queensberry Promotions YouTube channel, said: ‘Moses, I feel, is something special. He’s only 20 years of age and he’s looking the business. As he’s maturing, he’s only going to get better and better.”

Although Mike Tyson’s record for the youngest heavyweight champion is now out of reach for Itauma, the Queensberry boss is already eyeing up a record held by Naseem Hamed.

He said: “He’s not going to get that record now of becoming the youngest-ever heavyweight champion, but he could become Britain’s youngest ever champion.”

With Itauma already ranked in the top ten across three of the four major organisations, the Brit is at the same level as Martin Bakole and Filip Hrgovic.

A fight with Bakole is one that Warren would be happy to make. He told BoxNation last week that Itauma would knock out the Congolese heavy hitter.

Itauma had the opportunity to address the rumours of such a fight today before the Taylor-Essuman press conference. He dismissed Bakole as a spent force in the heavyweight division.

Itauma told talkSport: “Bakole is probably not a wise idea, because he’s not the man he once was. If he manages to get that 'bogeyman' title back, then it’s a good opportunity to fight him. But you wouldn’t fight a man after he's just been knocked out by Joseph Parker and has had a trash performance against Efe Ajagba – what do you get out of that?”

Frank Warren is confident that the Kent fighter will be the mandatory challenger for a heavyweight title soon.

Warren told BoxNation: “This year is a big year for him, it’s a big year for British heavyweight boxing. A big fight on the 19th of July [Oleksandr Uysk vs Daniel Dubois] at Wembley – four belts on the line. [Itauma's] got his eyes on that, and he will be getting close to becoming a mandatory for a champion soon.”

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