WBA (Regular) heavyweight champion Murat Gassiev recently opened the door to a UK showdown with Moses Itauma, framing the bout as a potential world title fight for the 21-year-old once he gets past Tony Yoka next month.
Speaking in an interview with Sky Sports, Gassiev did more than float a casual callout, drawing a direct comparison between Itauma’s humble, focused mentality and his own at that age.
Gassiev faces France’s Yoka next month and made clear his attention is on that contest first. But he repeatedly returned to Itauma as the kind of fighter he respects and wants to share a ring with down the line.
He’s 21, very young, but his style, he doesn’t fight like a kid, he’s smart, he’s strong. He has a strong mentality. And you never know what will happen in the ring,” Gassiev said.
The former unified cruiserweight world champion said watching Itauma reminds him of his own early career.
I see myself in the mirror [when I look at him], because I remember when I was 21 years old, I was the same, humble, quiet, just training and trying to win my fights, trying to do best in the ring,” Gassiev said. “He’s not a trash talker. He always has respect, doesn’t speak too much [about his opponents], just does his job.
Gassiev Targets UK Date With Itauma
Gassiev then laid out a rough timeline for when the fight could happen, with the UK named as a likely destination.
Maybe, at the end of the year or maybe next year, we can make the fight, in the UK, or anywhere. But right now for me, my focus is Tony [Yoka],” he said. “He has a good future. Right now he went this way, I went that way.
The path to that meeting carries real title implications. Itauma is the WBO interim heavyweight champion and sits at No. 1 in the WBA heavyweight rankings as of May 2026.
Should Oleksandr Usyk, the current undisputed heavyweight champion, eventually vacate or be stripped of his WBA belt, Gassiev as WBA (Regular) titleholder could be elevated to full world champion.
Itauma Faces Hrgovic Test First
Before any of that, Itauma has his toughest assignment to date against Filip Hrgovic, a world-level title hopeful. Itauma has also been pursuing a clash with Usyk, who looked diminished in his recent outing against Rico Verhoeven.
You can read more on how the heavyweight title picture is shaping up and on Itauma’s plans for a world champion fight and US debut.
Should Itauma and Gassiev each come through their next fights, a meeting between the two would represent Itauma’s quickest route to world honours. Neither man can take that for granted, with both stepping into difficult contests next.