Moses Itauma should continue to steadily build his journey through the heavyweight ranks rather than risk getting hurt by taking a showdown with Oleksandr Usyk “too early”, according to former unified light-welterweight world champion Amir Khan.
Chatham southpaw Itauma extended his perfect record through 13 professional fights with an impressive first-round knockout of British rival Dillian Whyte in Riyadh on Saturday.
The 20-year-old’s devasting performance against former WBC interim heavyweight champion Whyte, 37, saw Tyson Fury claim Itauma would beat undisputed world heavyweight champion Usyk.
Itauma, though, played down talk of calling out the Ukrainian in his post-fight comments, instead focusing on the likes of contenders Agit Kabayel or Joseph Parker, who is the WBO interim champion and next in line for a shot at Usyk.
Khan, 38, turned professional after claiming a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics, going on to unify his own division – and feels Itauma’s “time will come” if he takes things steady under the watchful eye of Queensberry promoter Frank Warren.
“He was fighting like a middleweight or even a lightweight with the movement and speed he had, how quick he was throwing those shots, they were all so clean and accurate,” Khan told the PA news agency.
“He was very balanced, was calm and collected. The guy is going to go far and when you see talent like that, you think ‘amazing’.
“I know Frank will steadily promote him the right way and also get him the right fights at the right time.
“I know people are talking about Usyk, but I think that is way too early because he is going to end up getting hurt.
“You don’t want to take a defeat like that, because you will never be the same fighter again.
“Usyk is the pinnacle, and maybe one of the best ever, out of the heavyweights, so he (Warren) can’t really put him in with a great just yet, but his time will come.
“At the moment, I think someone like Parker would be a great move or (Filip) Hrgovic, who has just had a good win as well.
“These are fighters that he needs to fight, maybe to keep taking those baby steps instead of taking the big steps.”
Khan added: “Imagine after I had won that Commonwealth (lightweight) title (in 2007) that they had put me straight into a world title fight against someone like Tim Bradley or Devon Alexander – I wasn’t ready for that.
“Even though I would have said I would have jumped in the ring with them – because at that age you want to go into the ring with anyone and everyone – but you have to be smart and I am sure Itauma has a good team around him.”
Khan’s AK Promotions company has partnered with Balmoral Group Promotions to stage ‘Chaos in the Ring’ in Lagos, Nigeria on October 1, which will feature the return of Rocky Fieldingon against Brandon Glanton as well as Dan Azeez and Elvis Ahorgah.
“We are opening new doors. Africa is a country that no one has done shows in and we are the first to go,” said Khan, who also promoted a show in Ghana during June when cruiserweight Andrew Tabiti stopped home favourite Jacob Dickson.
“You have got a lot of great fighters from Nigeria, so I am sure they will want to come and show support in this event.”
