Moses Itauma is set to return to the ring on July 19 on the Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois undercard.
The Chatham southpaw laid waste to former NFL linebacker Mike Balogun on Saturday night in Glasgow to earn himself a No.1 ranking with the WBO.
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And now, his handlers are looking to get him out again less than two months later at Wembley Stadium.
Itauma hasn’t put a foot wrong against unheralded opposition during a perfect 12-0 start to his professional career.
The Brit’s best win to date is a one-round blowout of Aussie puncher, Demsey McKean, who is best known for taking Filip Hrgovic eleven and a half rounds.
His next outing is expected to be a considerable step up in competition, although Martin Bakole, who had been heavily linked with a fight against the precocious 20-year-old talent, has been ruled out by Itauma’s promoter Frank Warren.
“I don’t know why everybody keeps going on about Bakole,” Warren told Ring Magazine on Monday.
“He looked terrible in his last fight (a draw against Efe Ajagba), and he got knocked spark out in the one before that [against Joseph Parker].
“I don’t really know what he is. I look at his list of opponents, and he hasn’t really fought anyone, so I don’t know where that talk of him fighting Moses has come from.
“And why would I want to give them the money they are asking for?
“Plus, the fact I got a text off his trainer, Billy Nelson (Bakole’s trainer), saying he won’t be ready to fight until December.
“We are not in the Bakole business. We care about Moses Itauma.”
A fight with Parker has also been mooted in recent weeks, but Warren confirms that match-up won’t happen due to the Kiwi’s WBO mandatory status.
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Parker stepped aside to let Usyk and Dubois fight each other for all four major sanctioning body belts and is expected to square off against the winner of the undisputed showdown.
“Parker is the WBO interim champion right now, so that won’t happen on July 19,” Warren added.
“We couldn’t afford to do it on the undercard at Wembley.
“We could have rolled the dice and got Moses a world title shot, but his career is a marathon, not a sprint.
“I want him to learn his trade, so does Francis (Itauma’s manager) and the team, but he is a very capable kid.
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“He’s really not far off the world title, and when he gets there, we want him to stay there.
“We will look at options for his next opponent in the next week or so.”
