British heavyweight boxer Moses Itauma (13-0, 11 KOs) said that three-belt Oleksandr Usyk is “abusing his power.” The boxer commented on this in an interview with Ring Magazine.
Usyk currently holds the WBA, WBC and IBF titles after becoming the absolute world champion for the second time by defeating Britain's Daniel Dubois. The Ukrainian then vacated the WBO belt due to his unwillingness to make a mandatory defense of the belt against Fabio Wardley.
One of Usyk's possible opponents for the WBC belt defense was 21-year-old Itauma, who previously could have fought Lawrence Okolie for the mandatory title. However, the Ukrainian has scheduled his next fight against Dutch kickboxer Rico Verhoeven, who the WBC has sanctioned as a voluntary title defense. The fight is scheduled to take place on May 23, 2026 in Egypt.
Itauma spoke in an interview with Ring about his career ambitions to win the world title. The Briton also spoke about Usyk having too many belts and added that “you just have to wait.”
“As I said, Usyk is at the top of his game, and I think he's abusing his power. Of course, he's earned the right to do whatever he wants, and of course some people will say it's too early. But a lot of people were saying that before the Dillian Whyte fight. I feel like in this boxing game there will always be people who will say something,” Itauma said.
Itauma competes in the heavyweight division, having last fought in August 2025, defeating Dillian Whyte in the first round. The Briton was scheduled to face Jermaine Franklin in January 2026, but was injured and the fight was postponed to March.
“Obviously, Usyk had something to say to you guys. He's definitely not going to go on camera and say, 'No, I don't want to potentially put my career at risk because of a 21-year-old guy who's working his way through the ratings.' So, obviously, he has something to say. But I don't think people believed it. And if they did, that's their opinion, right?” the boxer added.
“What I mean by 'abuse of power' — I mean more the fact that, obviously, he's a world champion, he has three major belts, it seems. And instead of fighting his mandatory challengers or fighting people who want to fight him, he's fighting other people.”