Moses Itauma fight date moved to avoid Anthony Joshua clash

Rising British heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma will now fight on 8 August, after his original July date was rescheduled to avoid a direct clash with Anthony Joshua’s upcoming bout.

Itauma, who boasts an unblemished record across 14 professional contests, significantly boosted his profile with a dominant knockout victory over Jermaine Franklin in March.

His highly anticipated next challenge was initially slated for 25 July at London’s O2 Arena. However, that slot has since been allocated to a fight that will see Joshua return to the ring for the first time this year against Kristian Prenga in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

To prevent a direct conflict for audience attention, promoter Frank Warren confirmed the decision to move Itauma’s fight to 8 August, though an opponent is yet to be named.

"He will fight now on August 8th, that’s what will happen," Warren told the Ariel Helwani Show.

Anthony Joshua is set to fight on 25 July against Kristian Prenga (Bradley Collyer/PA) (PA Wire)

"We could have gone head to head and all this. It is what it is. We’ll just keep moving forward."

Looking ahead to a potential opponent for Itauma, Warren added: "We’re working on a couple of names but until the contract is signed, I don’t like to say anything."

Itauma, who is still only 21 years of age, has made rapid progress through the heavyweight rankings in recent years, but has found ring-time hard to come by.

His last stoppage win over Franklin, which saw him knock out the American in the fifth round, was the first time he has been taken beyond the second round since 2023.

He will now have to wait a little longer to get into the ring again, with Joshua set to fight two weeks earlier.

Joshua is aiming to build some momentum against the little-known Prenga ahead of a potential showdown with domestic rival Tyson Fury later this year.