- Frank Warren tells Sky Sports Itauma is ready for Usyk now — and a world heavyweight title fight is coming by end of 2026
- Itauma fights again in July at the O2, with Murat Gassiev floated as the year-end title shot if Usyk passes
- Brave or barmy? At 21 years old, Itauma has 13 fights and a Franklin demolition behind him — Luke says it's the right risk at the right time
Right Then — Warren Has Said The Bit Out Loud
Right then. Frank Warren has stopped tip-toeing. Speaking to Sky Sports this week, he's gone on the record saying Moses Itauma is ready for Oleksandr Usyk right now — full stop, no caveat — and that the lad will fight for a world heavyweight title before the year is out. That is the boldest call any UK promoter has made all year, and it deserves to be taken seriously rather than laughed off.
Warren's exact line — "I fancy that fight. I fancy that fight right now. I don't rush anyone. If we could make that fight, I'd make that now" — is the kind of quote you only put out when you've already sounded out the opposition camp. Frank doesn't fly speculative kites in fight week. If he's saying it, he means it.
The Itauma Case — 13 Fights, A Franklin Demolition, And A Bigger Engine Than Any UK Heavy In A Decade
Let's not beat around the bush. Itauma's resume is short. 13 pro fights, the standout being the fifth-round Manchester demolition of Jermaine Franklin — a former Anthony Joshua opponent who arrived in the UK on a hot streak and left in pieces. The Franklin tape is the one Warren keeps shoving across the table. The speed, the shot selection, the calm under pressure from a 21-year-old kid — that's not levels behind a world title night. That's a kid who's already there.
The case against is just as obvious. He hasn't been rounds. He hasn't been hurt. He hasn't been twelve hard ones with a champion. Usyk has been all of those things and come out the other side as the most complete heavyweight of the era. Brave or barmy? Right now it sits closer to brave. Closer.
The Calendar — July O2, Then The Belt
The roadmap as Warren has laid it out is two more fights in 2026. Itauma is back at the O2 on July 25 — the same night Anthony Joshua is in Riyadh against Prenga, by the way, so that's a clash we're going to come back to in another piece — and that has to be a top-ten heavyweight or it's a wasted date. Murat Gassiev has been the most consistently floated name in the briefings, and a Gassiev fight in July would be a proper test, not a marketing exercise.
Then the title shot before Christmas. If Usyk is the target, you're looking at the back end of November or December — Usyk fights Rico Verhoeven in Giza on May 23 and there's been zero noise about another defence after that. The window opens. Whether Usyk wants to walk through it for an Itauma fight is another question entirely, and the Ukrainian has previously said he doesn't want to break a kid still finding his level. We'll see how loud the cheque has to be.
If Not Usyk, Then Who?
If Usyk says no — and there's a real chance he does — Warren's fallback is the WBO route via the winner of Wardley vs Dubois on Saturday at Co-op Live. That's the much more realistic shot, and that's what makes May 9 in Manchester even more important than the bin-man rows and the firefight quotes have made it. The lad sat ringside that night isn't just a fan. He's the next contender, and Warren wants the winner.
The IBF route is parallel to that. Agit Kabayel's belt is sitting there and the German has been ducked, courted and re-ducked by half the division. Warren has the leverage to make it happen if Usyk and the Wardley-Dubois winner both swerve.
Luke's Verdict
Make no mistake about this — I'm with Warren. Itauma is the most exciting British heavyweight prospect since a young Joshua, and the worst thing you can do with a kid like that is keep feeding him middle-of-the-road comebacks while the engine cools. He needs a Gassiev or someone of that calibre in July, then he needs to be in a world title fight by November even if it isn't Usyk.
Will he beat Usyk? No. Not yet, probably not ever, and that's not a slight on Itauma — Usyk levels above almost everyone alive at heavyweight. But the lesson of the last fifteen years of British boxing is that you don't waste a generational fighter's prime years collecting the equivalent of fight-week press releases. You let him swing. Warren knows it. Itauma's looked Warren in the eye and said yes. Now we wait to see if Usyk fancies it.
If you know, you know. The Itauma era is starting now, not in 2028.