Anthony Joshua Gives Definitive Answer on Fighting Moses Itauma

Anthony Joshua has addressed questions about fighting Moses Itauma after his mega-fight with Tyson Fury later this year.

The former unified champion is closing in on the final years of his storied career, but has not written himself off, saying that he could fight on until he is 40. This would open up many opportunities for him to fight young, up-and-coming heavyweights such as Itauma toward the back end of his career.

Itauma has shot up through the ranks as a professional, unbeaten in fourteen fights with 12 of those wins coming by way of knockout. The Slovak-Brit has been hailed as the heavyweight king in waiting after dispatching every opponent they can throw at him, including former world title challenger Dillian Whyte, whom he knocked out in the first round.

Joshua on fighting Moses Itauma

This has made it increasingly hard for Itauma to find challenging fights that can give him experience as he marches towards a world title. Top heavyweights do not want to take the risk against such a young fighter, but Joshua has no qualms taking him on.

"Listen, it is another opportunity [to face Itauma]," AJ explained to the media. "Will I, of course. Let me get these two out of the way [Kristian Prenga and Fury].

"100 per cent, yeah of course why not? There are so many great opportunities presenting themselves."

This fight would not be viable until at least 2027, as Joshua is locked into his two-fight deal with Riyadh Season, where he is set to face Kristina Prenga on July 25 and Tyson Fury in the latter part of the year. But heavyweight rivals Fury and Oleksandr Usyk have both publicly shied away from this fight.

What did Usyk and Fury say on Itauma?

Late last year, a couple of months after his knockout victory over Daniel Dubois to become two-time undisputed heavyweight champion, Usyk was asked about a potential fight with Itauma and simply said he would not do it.

"No, I won't fight Itauma. He's young ... always teasing me. And he said himself he doesn't hit grandpas," Usyk told Ready to Fight.

Then, when approached again about fighting the British heavyweight, he gave a more definitive and dismissive response to Max Kellerman on the Inside the Ring Show in March this year.

"I’m not going to fight Itauma because he is a young guy," Usyk said. "I don’t want to break him because this guy likes me."

Oleksandr Usyk wins | IMAGO / Middle East Images

When Fury was proposed a fight with Itauma in late 2025, he gave a more jovial response, and rather than insinuate that he would beat him, like we saw with Usyk, it was closer to a fear of losing a high-risk, low-reward fight against a man he had shared many rounds with in sparring.

"No, absolutely not. You think I’m stupid? You think I’m stupid? " Fury retorted. "No, no, no. I’ll probably do something like a trilogy with Usyk next. Or with someone else. If I’m still going to do ten fights, then I'll have them all."

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