{"id":66945,"date":"2026-03-31T14:55:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T13:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versii.net\/%d0%b1%d0%b5%d0%b7-%d0%ba%d0%b0%d1%82%d0%b5%d0%b3%d0%be%d1%80%d0%b8%d0%b8\/2026\/66945\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T09:38:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T08:38:34","slug":"threat-to-usyk-21-year-old-wunderkind-bursts-into-heavyweight-top-after-loud-knockout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/sport\/2026\/66945\/","title":{"rendered":"Threat to Usyk: 21-Year-Old &#8220;Wunderkind&#8221; Storms into Heavyweight Top After Loud Knockout"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Moses Itauma made an incredible leap in The Ring rankings and is now in line for the belts of the Ukrainian champion <\/p>\n<p>After a stunning victory over seasoned fighter Jermaine Franklin, 21-year-old British prospect Moses Itauma has compelled experts to reassess the hierarchy of the division. The young heavyweight is now officially breathing down the necks of the leaders.<\/p>\n<p>This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing the updated rankings from The Ring magazine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Also read:<\/strong> &#8220;They will fill five stadiums&#8221;: promoter prepares a super fight for Usyk against the world&#8217;s top talent<br \/>\nThe British rise<\/p>\n<p>Moses Itauma&#8217;s (14-0, 12 KOs) performance last weekend shocked the boxing community. The Brit not only defeated the resilient Franklin but did so in a supremely confident style, knocking his opponent out. Such a performance prompted the editorial board of The Ring to immediately elevate Moses to the 5th position in their prestigious rankings.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, only fighters like Filip Hrgovic, Daniel Dubois, Agit Kabayel, and Fabio Wardley stand above the 21-year-old. However, Itauma&#8217;s rapid ascent is impressive.<\/p>\n<p>At the top of the division remains the undefeated Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the championship belt from the publication.<\/p>\n<p>The top 10 heavyweights according to The Ring:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Champion:<\/strong> Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine)<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Fabio Wardley (United Kingdom)<\/li>\n<li>Agit Kabayel (Germany)<\/li>\n<li>Daniel Dubois (United Kingdom)<\/li>\n<li>Filip Hrgovic (Croatia)<\/li>\n<li>Moses Itauma (United Kingdom)<\/li>\n<li>Martin Bakole (DR Congo)<\/li>\n<li>Efe Ajagba (Nigeria)<\/li>\n<li>Richard Torres (USA)<\/li>\n<li>Murad Gassiev<\/li>\n<li>Lawrence Okolie (United Kingdom)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"900\" src=\"\/static\/ckef2\/img\/HEsTOcZXwAA1Xfp.jpg\" width=\"720\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Who is Moses Itauma<\/p>\n<p>A 21-year-old British boxer. Born in the Slovak town of Ke\u017emarok. His mother is Slovak, and his father is Nigerian. When the family moved to the UK, he began boxing.<\/p>\n<p>In amateur sports, he is the 2022 World Youth Boxing Champion (under 19), a three-time winner of the European junior and youth championships (2018, 2019, 2022).<\/p>\n<p>He made his professional debut in January 2023 at the age of 19. Since then, he has fought 14 bouts, winning all (12 by knockout). He is the current holder of the WBO Inter-Continental, WBA International titles, and the British Commonwealth champion. Named &#8220;Prospect of the Year 2024&#8221; by The Ring magazine.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, Usyk ranked those who hit him the hardest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Moses Itauma made an incredible leap in The Ring rankings and is now in line for the belts of the Ukrainian champion. Following a stunning victory over seasoned fighter Jermaine Franklin, the 21-year-old British prospect Moses Itauma has compelled experts to reassess the hierarchy of the division. Now, the young heavyweight is officially breathing down the necks of the leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"magazine_newspaper_sidebar_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Threat to Usyk: 21-Year-Old &quot;Wunderkind&quot; Burst into Heavyweight Top After Loud Knockout<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Moses Itauma made an incredible leap in The Ring rankings and is now in line for the belts of the Ukrainian champion. Following a stunning victory over seasoned fighter Jermaine Franklin, the 21-year-old British prospect Moses Itauma has compelled experts to reassess the hierarchy of the division. Now, the young heavyweight is officially breathing down the necks of the leaders.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/sport\/2026\/66428\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Threat to Usyk: 21-Year-Old &quot;Wunderkind&quot; Burst into Heavyweight Top After Loud Knockout\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Moses Itauma made an incredible leap in The Ring rankings and is now in line for the belts of the Ukrainian champion. 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