Moses Itauma believes he can beat Mike Tyson's record by becoming youngest-ever world heavyweight champion.
The rising star has had a hugely successful amateur career which saw him picked up by Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions who have signed him to a long-term deal. At just 18, Itauma will make his debut on a world title bill topped by Anthony Yarde's clash with Artur Beterbiev on January 28 at Wembley Arena.
And while Itauma is expected to be moved step-by-step by manager Francis Warren to ensure he fulfils his obvious potential and becomes one of the division's biggest stars, he is also wary of going for gold too quickly.
"I want to become the youngest heavyweight world champion since Mike Tyson who was 20-years-old," Itauma told Mirror Fighting after his debut was confirmed later this month. "I need to take small steps but also ensure that I step up the tasks very quickly. I want to do short steps but not too much with them.
"Youngest ever world heavyweight champion is in my mid-term goals but it is something that I can believe I can achieve before 2025. It is not what I am thinking about right of this second, but I want to let that come once I have grown as a professional. I have gone from not having any press at all to this and it is crazy.
"I am in the right place because Frank Warren has all the other big heavyweights at the moment so I think I have a bright future." Tyson knocked out Trevor Berbick in trademark fashion to become WBC world heavyweight champion at the age of just 20, a record which has remained in the history books since November 1986.
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It appeared unlikely anyone would ever emulate that record given Tyson had already had 27 fights as a professional by the time his world title clash came around. But Itauma is targeting an active year however and believes he can compete eight times within 2023 to quickly move his career forward.
The rising star has already earned rave reviews from some of the sport's top fighters including cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie. Itauma has also shared the ring with former two-time heavyweight king Anthony Joshua in sparring, and has admitted it was a crazy experience that he will never forget.
"They are learning experiences and obviously sparring is not a real fight but it is all valuable for my career," he continued. "Going to Joshua's camp was crazy, obviously I wasn't in their for ages because I had my own thing going on but it was a great experience. It was a great atmosphere to be around and it was exciting times for me being in sparring with him. Yeah it was crazy, I've also sparred Joe Joyce and Lawrence Okolie so it's been great."
