Rising British heavyweight phenom Moses Itauma will "push back" his planned headlining, next fight from July 25th to August 8th. This, as to not conflict with Anthony Joshua's 2026 return to the ring on that July date.
Rising British heavyweight contender Moses Itauma will now return to the ring on a new, later date this Summer after a scheduling change involving fellow British star Anthony Joshua. Queensberry Promotions chairman Frank Warren confirmed to insider Dan Rafael on Wednesday that Itauma’s planned July 25th event has been delayed and rescheduled for Aug. 8 at The O2 Arena in London.
Originally, Itauma, 14-0 with 12 KOs, was expected to headline a DAZN card in late July against an opponent that had yet to be finalized. Warren told Rafael that Queensberry had already secured the venue and set plans in motion when Saudi Entertainment's head of boxing, Turki Alalshikh, announced Joshua’s comeback bout for the exact same night.
Joshua, a former two-time unified heavyweight champion and one of Britain’s biggest boxing attractions, is set to fight Kristian Prenga in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in a DAZN pay-per-view main event.
Joshua has not fought since suffering a serious setback in December, when he was a passenger in a vehicle in NIgera that had a high speed crash and killed two of his friends. This happened a short time after the former WBA/IBF/WBO champ had kayoed social media star turned boxer Jake Paul in Miami in massively viewed bout on Netflix.
The upcoming July bout is viewed as a tune-up ahead of a long-rumored showdown with Tyson Fury later this year. So, rather than compete directly with ultra popular Joshua for the British boxing audience, Warren decided it made more sense to shift Itauma’s event to another date just short time later.
As a result, Itauma remains at The O2, although discussions are still ongoing regarding his opponent. The unbeaten heavyweight remains one of the sport’s fastest-rising young stars and continues to build momentum toward a potential world title opportunity.
The 21-year-old last fought on March 28th in Manchester, where he delivered another impressive performance by stopping experienced American heavyweight Jermaine Franklin in the fifth round. Franklin had previously gone the distance in competitive decision losses against both Dillian Whyte and Joshua, making Itauma’s dominant victory particularly noteworthy.
Itauma currently holds the WBO’s No. 1 contender position and also has a first round destruction of Whyte last August on his resume'. Despite his rapid rise, he has logged only 31 professional rounds so far.
The date change could also delay plans for Itauma’s anticipated United States debut, which had been targeted for September but may now take place later in the calendar.