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Former world champions disagree on whether Moses Itauma can be world champion within 12 months
Two former world champion boxers have disagreed publicly on whether Moses Itauma will lift a heavyweight championship belt within the next year.
Speaking on a new DAZN video, released today, Tony Bellew and Darren Barker – both former world champions – took opposite views on whether Itauma would become world champion within the next year. Itauma, 12-0 (10), fights Dillian Whyte, 31-3 (21), next week on DAZN.
Barker, 26-2 (16), who held the IBF middleweight championship in 2013, said that while he believed Itauma would become a world champion, this development was not likely within the twelve-month timeframe.
He said: “Yes, I think [Itauma] would go for the opportunity, but I don't know if the team would put him in there anyway. I think skillset, he's definitely got enough to be able to win a world title. Well, what's the rush once you get to that level? If you win it, there's no going back. But yeah, I think he will be a world champion, but not right now.”
Bellew, 30-3-1 (20), who held the WBC cruiserweight championship between 2016 and 2018, making two defences, said that he thought that Itauma could become champion if the heavyweight belts began to splinter in the next year. Currently, undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk is meant to defend against mandatory challenger Joseph Parker. However, the two sides seem yet to reach any agreement, with a third fight for Usyk against Tyson Fury mooted.
He said: “Putting [Itauma] in with Dillian Whyte next tells you everything you need to know, because Dillion has beat the likes of Joseph Parker. Dillion has beaten almost all the top heavyweights. So to throw him in with dillian White, and we haven't seen even though Dillion isn't at that same level when he beat Joseph Parker, no one's still done him.”
The pair agreed, however, that Itauma was nowhere near ready to take on Oleksandr Usyk, with Bellew pointing out that no fighter who has not been past six or seven rounds could be ready for the Ukrainian.
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Former Team GB boxer Ruth Raper, who was also taking part, said that the landscape of the heavyweight division will depend on how the belts are splintered in the next year and, more specifically, on where and whom the belts finish with. She said that Itauma – with so few rounds under his belt – would not be a realistic challenge for either Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua.
Perennial contender Dave Allen, 24-7-2 (19) and who fights Arslanbek Makhmudov on 11 October in Sheffield, said that there were too many unanswered questions about Itauma to say he would be world champion in the next year.
He said: “We haven’t really seen him get it back. He hasn't been hit back, he hasn't been pushed hard, he hasn't gone the rounds. He hasn't really boxed anyone above domestic level. So, it's a guessing game. He's got the talent, but there's more questions than answers.”
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