Moses Itauma: The Future Heavyweight Champion

Prince Naseem Hamed has never been shy with an opinion, but even by his standards this is explosive. Moses Itauma, he says, is “a million times better” than Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. Not just the future of the division – the man to eclipse them both.

On Saturday night at London’s O2 Arena, the 21-year-old from Chatham steps into the ring against Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic for the vacant IBF heavyweight title. Fourteen fights into his professional career, unbeaten, and already being talked about as if the era belongs to him.

Hamed is all in.

“Moses is on another level to the likes of Tyson Fury and Tyson would say that himself. Tyson would not want to fight Moses and neither would Joshua,” he told BBC Sport. “If they did I would say they are very brave.”

Those are not casual words. Fury and Joshua are the defining British heavyweights of their generation. One a former undisputed champion at heavyweight, the other a two-time unified champion who carried stadium shows on his shoulders. Yet Hamed, 52, is convinced Itauma is cut from something rarer.

A title shot at 21 tells its own story. Victory over Hrgovic would make Itauma the second-youngest heavyweight world champion in history, behind only Mike Tyson. He would also get there quicker than Joshua, who claimed his first world title in his 16th professional bout. Itauma is going for it in his 15th.

The backdrop only sharpens the intrigue. Joshua and Fury have finally agreed terms to meet later this year in their long-awaited all-British showdown, a fight that has hovered over the sport for almost a decade. While they circle each other at the top of the marquee, Itauma is trying to kick down the door from underneath.

Hamed knows what it is to arrive early. The Sheffield-born showman became Britain’s youngest world champion when he beat Steve Robinson for the WBO featherweight title in Cardiff in 1995, at 21 years and 230 days. If Itauma beats Hrgovic, he will miss that particular British record by just 14 days.

It doesn’t bother Hamed in the slightest.

He is not chasing nostalgia or numbers. He is looking at what he believes is a “special fighter” on the brink of fulfilling a long-held vision.

“Winning a national title as an amateur aged 11 and then having in your head all the way through your amateur career that you’ll be world champion at 21 – I visualised that. I think it’s very much the same for Moses,” he said.

The conviction in his voice is unmistakable.

“I’m so confident that Moses is going to be the heavyweight champion of the world. I’m so confident that he’ll defend that belt for as long as he wants.”

That confidence comes despite the quality in the opposite corner. Hrgovic is no soft touch, no hand-picked stepping stone. The 34-year-old Croatian is an Olympic bronze medallist, with only one defeat in 21 professional fights – a loss to current WBO world champion Daniel Dubois in 2024. His résumé is deeper, his opposition stronger, his experience far greater.

On paper, the veteran is the more proven heavyweight. On the betting slips, he is still the underdog.

Hamed doesn’t blink.

“On paper it’s a test but I don’t think the night that we watch it it will be a test,” he said. “I think it’s going to be one of Moses’ easiest nights of his career and he’ll win a world title.”

It is a bold forecast, especially in a division where one punch has rewritten scripts for a century. Fury has tasted defeat twice, both times against Oleksandr Usyk. Joshua has lost four of his 34 professional contests. Even the greats get caught.

Hamed, though, draws a sharp line between respect for the past and belief in the present.

“I think Tyson Fury was amazing for British boxing and what he achieved, what he did and brought to the game and how colourful he was as a personality,” he said. “I think Joshua did an amazing job early in his career to win a world title and be an ambassador for British boxing.

“[But] I can’t compare Moses. He is a million times better than them.”

That is the scale of the claim. Better than Fury, who twice climbed off the canvas against Deontay Wilder and dethroned Wladimir Klitschko in his own backyard. Better than Joshua, who dragged heavyweight boxing back into football stadiums and global prime time.

For now, Itauma is still only a rising contender with 14 professional wins and no world title belt. Hrgovic will try to slam the brakes on the hype and remind everyone that heavyweight belts are not handed to the most talked-about prospect, but to the man who can handle the heat when the punches start to land.

If Hamed is right, though, Saturday night will not just crown a new IBF champion. It will mark the moment the heavyweight landscape starts to tilt towards a 21-year-old from Chatham, with Joshua and Fury still in the ring, but a new name already being spoken of as the man to beat.