Moses Itauma Could Start a Heavyweight Empire on Saturday

Moses Itauma takes an unprecedented leap forward in his career this weekend when, after just 14 fights, he will take on Filip Hrgovic for the vacant IBF world heavyweight title at the O2 Arena. Whilst this may be the beginning of his reign, it could also be the start of a heavyweight empire for his promoter.

Since Tyson Fury's comeback to professional boxing in 2018, Frank Warren and Queensberry Promotions have been slowly building what has become by far the strongest heavyweight roster in all of boxing.

Warren's heavy hitters include: Tyson Fury, Daniel Dubois, Agit Kabayel, Fabio Wardley, Moses Itauma, Filip Hrogvic, Zhilei Zhang, Derek Chisora, Lawrence Okolie, Jared Anderson, Guido Vianello and Tony Yoka.

This is a perfect mixture of the old guard and the current and future championship contenders. Fury, Zhang, Chisora, and Hrgovic represent those in the twilight of their careers, and the rest are young and hungry hopefuls, with the exception of Dubois and Wardley, who have both had their hands on world titles already but are young enough to do it again.

Queensberry's new heavyweight empire

When Oleksandr Usyk vacated his titles in June, Warren's masterplan fell into place. Fabio Wardley had been the recipient of the WBO belt a few months before and lost it to Dubois in May; both men are Queensberry fighters and are set for a rematch in October - thus, the belt did not and will not leave Queensberry hands.

Agit Kabayel gets it done against Zhilei Zhang — Agit Kabayel | IMAGO / Norbert Schmidt

Agit Kabayel was elevated to full champion status after holding the interim belt, which he won from Zhilei Zhang last year, giving Warren, in a matter of months, two out of the four heavyweight titles under his Queensberry banner.

This Saturday, whether Itauma or Hrgovic emerges victorious, Queensberry will boast three of four heavyweight world titles, as once again Warren has guided his fighters into the perfect position for a win-win scenario on his books. It would, however, be safe to assume that behind closed doors, he is backing Itauma, as he is the better long-term investment.

Unification or expansion?

Once the new owner of the currently vacant IBF belt has been decided on Saturday, there will be an important decision to be made for Warren and his promotion - do they make a move to unify the division, do they make a play for the WBA belt currently held by Murat Gassiev, or do they kill two birds with one stone?

If unification is the desired path, then that is easy enough - fight negotiations between any of Kabayel, Dubois, Wardley, Itauma and Hrgovic would be kept short and in-house. The most exciting possible fight among those potential world champions would be either Dubois vs Itauma or Kabayel vs Itauma.

Expansion could take one of two paths, with only one belt eluding Queensberry by this Sunday. Warren could send one of his champions to retrieve the WBA belt from Gassiev, but he would have to dig deep into his pockets to get the Russian to agree to that. The other option is to do as they have done for the last five years anyway and position a fighter as mandatory for his title.

The current mandatory challenger for Gassiev's belt is technically Itauma, but that will change soon as he has committed to the IBF and will therefore tumble down the WBA rankings, leaving Jarrell Miller sitting at number two as the new mandatory.

The only other Queensberry fighters in the top 15 of the WBA rankings are Tyson Fury and Filip Hrgovic. It doesn't seem as though Fury is interested in fighting for any more world titles, but his opinions are subject to change any given time.

Hrgovic is a more realistic proposition, provided he doesn't win the IBF title or tumble out of their rankings on Saturday.

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