Where does Moses Itauma go from here?

If Moses Itauma’s win over Dillian Whyte on Saturday provided the boxing world with anything, it may have been the emergence of a new standard bearer for an incoming golden period for the heavyweights.

When the bell rang on Saturday evening, it was largely considered to be a make-or-break affair both Itauma and Whyte. For both fighters, a win was a necessity. Itauma needed to show what he could do in what was, on paper, a large step up from the journeyman and never-will-bes that have so far illustrated his career. Whyte, likewise, needed to win in order to inject some vim into his career and prove he was a few steps further from the scrapheap.

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As it was, it took Itauma only about 115 seconds to remove Whyte from both his senses and the upper echelon of the division. An Itauma jab seemed to trouble Whyte within the opening seconds and a flurry of punches, some stumbling around the ring, and a referee waving it all off at the exact right time was all the action and drama needed.

While the road ahead for Whyte remains murky, the same can be said for Itauma. The difference between them is that as one career seems to be taking off, the other is waning into a decline.

Already, there are noises about Itauma facing Oleksandr Usyk for the unified, undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. The Ring has reported in the last day or so that Turki Alalshikh, the biggest name in the boxing industry, is looking for Itauma and Usyk to face off.

That, said The Ring, is Alalshikh’s ‘preference’.

Whether that comes to pass is one thing. Despite Alalshikh's position as boxing’s dealmaker, Usyk has indicated that he wants to have only one more fight in his career – and with Tyson Fury already playing the publicity game on that one, it seems most likely that this will be Usyk’s next move.

There is also an experience gap between the Ukrainian heavyweight champion and Itauma. Usyk, 24-0 (15), has been fighting at the world-championship level since 2016, when he outpointed Krzysztof Glowacki in Gdansk, Poland.

Itauma, by contract, has only had thirteen bouts, mostly against lower-rung opposition. He has also never gone past six rounds. Taking him immediately into a fight against Usyk may, despite how impressive the weekend was, be a bridge too soon – akin to how Daniel Dubois, Joe Joyce, and Anthony Joshua were arguably rushed into heavyweight main-event status.

Given that Itauma now holds the Commonwealth belt, and if he and his team do not want to jump yet into world-championship status, there are decent fights to be made for him at this stage of his career against Lawrence Okolie, 22-1 (16); Richard Riakporhe, 18-1 (14); and Derek Chisora, 36-13 (23). Joe Joyce, 16-4 (15); Kevin Lerena, 31-4 (15); and Hughie Fury, 30-3 (17); would also be good tests.

Looking over Europe, Itauma has even further options. In Germany, there is Labinot Xhoxhaj, who holds the European title. Xhoxhaj beat Oleksandr Zakhozhyi last year at short notice in Heidelberg, then defended it against unbeaten Frenchman Mourad Aliev in Hamburg in June. Xhoxhaj, 21-0-1 (16), would be a good test and one that may give Itauma some rounds. A win would also give Itauma the European belt.

France, too, has Tony Yoka, 14-3 (11), who has blown hot and cold in his career, but still holds an Olympic gold. Travelling to Paris would also raise Itauma’s profile on the continent.

If there is a potential heavyweight opponent on the horizon for Itauma, it seems that sights are already being set in a particular direction. Speaking on radio after the Whyte fight, Itauma said that his team was next looking at Jermaine Franklin, 23-2 (15).

Franklin is likely to be a good barometer at this stage. Despite losing to Whyte and Joshua in 2022 and 2023, the US boxer has won his last two, albeit against limited opposition. He also lost to both Whyte and Joshua on points – contentiously to Whyte, too, as the fight was a majority decision. A knockout win over Franklin would do little to strengthen Itauma’s reputation at this point, but it would be beneficial for him to go past six rounds.

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