Tony Bellew has predicted a scenario where, in the wake of Oleksandr Usyk’s retirement, there is one man who comes along and mops up all the titles.
Usyk was crowned the undisputed king of his division in 2024, cementing his status with back-to-back points victories over Tyson Fury.
Then, after being forced to relinquish his IBF strap, the Ukrainian became a three-time, two-weight undisputed champion by stopping Daniel Dubois in round five of their heavyweight rematch.
Since extending his unblemished record in July, though, Usyk has once again vacated a world title, this time enabling Fabio Wardley to be elevated from ‘interim’ to full WBO champion.
As a result, Wardley will now defend his prize against Dubois on May 9, while Usyk – holding three of the four major belts – resumes his status as the bona fide heavyweight king.
But then, when the 39-year-old ultimately hangs up his gloves, many believe that heavyweight prodigy Moses Itauma will step in to take his place.
Itauma has not quite proven himself at the highest level, with his best win arguably coming against a faded Dillian Whyte in August, but the 21-year-old is nonetheless ranked No.1 with both the WBO and WBA.
Speaking with Football Blog, Bellew names the precocious talent as an undisputed heavyweight champion in waiting, capable of collecting all the titles once Usyk retires.
“Oleksandr Usyk’s just going to walk away into the sunset, and he’s going to go, ‘I’ve had enough’.
“When he does, you will find them all scavenged towards the belts, and then you will find lesser champions and then somebody else will come along. Hence, Moses Itauma, and he will clean up again. And then you will have a reigning, undisputed unified champion again.”
Before anything else, Itauma must first get past Jermaine Franklin on March 28, with the durable customer expected to take him past round two for the first time in nine fights.
