Moses Itauma, boxing’s next big thing, continues his march towards a world heavyweight title shot at the tender age of 20.
The sensationally talented youngster from Chatham, Kent improved to 12-0 (including 10 wins by knockout) on Saturday night by absolutely demolishing American former NFL star Mike Balogun in Glasgow.
‘Enriko’ was yet again punch perfect as he delivered performance which likely sent shivers down the spines of his rivals at the elite end of boxing’s marquee weight class.
Itauma devastating again
Three blistering left hands had Balogun on the deck in round one, and two beautiful right hooks off the back foot then closed the show in the second. Itauma now has 10 stoppages inside the first two rounds.
The post-fight talk was what comes next for the most exciting prospect the heavyweight division has seen since Mike Tyson was wreaking havoc back in the 1980s.
Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren has already spoken about potential showdowns this year with the likes of Martin Bakole and Filip Hrgovic. He also believes it will not be too long before Moses is fighting for world titles.
Boxing’s sanctioning bodies also feel the same, with the World Boxing Organization (WBO) promoting Itauma to the #1 spot in their rankings in the aftermath of Saturday’s devastating Glasgow win.
Usyk the current WBO champion
The current WBO champion is of course the great Oleksandr Usyk, who will defend the belt (along with the WBC, WBA, Ring magazine and lineal titles) on July 19 vs IBF ruler Daniel Dubois.
The interim WBO champion is New Zealand’s Joseph Parker, who is next in line for a title shot. Then Dubois tops the rankings at #1 ahead of Croatian star Hrgovic and Chinese giant Zhilei Zhang.
Britain’s Anthony Joshua, set to return from injury later this year, is currently at #6 on the WBO ranking list while Tyson Fury (currently retired) obviously does not figure right now.
Latest WBO Rankings
The WBO heavyweight rankings for May look like this:
| Ranking | Boxer | Country |
| CHAMPION | OLEKSANDR USYK (Sup. Champion) | UKR |
| Interim | JOSEPH PARKER | NZL |
| 1 | Moses Itauma (Int-Cont) | GBR |
| 2 | Filip Hrgovic (WBO International) | HRV |
| 3 | Zhilei Zhang | CHN |
| 4 | Lawrence Okolie | GBR |
| 5 | Jared Anderson | USA |
| 6 | Anthony Joshua | GBR |
| 7 | Dereck Chisora | GBR |
| 8 | Murat Gassiev | ARM |
| 9 | Vladyslav Sirenko | UKR |
| 10 | David Adeleye | GBR |
| 11 | Nelson Hysa (WBO Europe) | ALB |
| 12 | Efe Ajagba | NGA |
| 13 | Johnny Fisher | GBR |
| 14 | Otto Wallin | SWE |
| 15 | Richard Torrez, Jr (NABO) | USA |
What next for Moses?
So the next step (at least with the WBO) is becoming the interim champion, the man with the next mandatory shot at what would right now be Usyk or Dubois.
WBO chief Gustavo Olivieri, fielding questions about Itauma’s #1 rankinbg, explained that Moses would have to face and beat a rated fighter to have a chance of moving into that spot currently held by Parker.
