Frank Warren has revealed that Moses Itauma is no longer due to fight on 13 December, as the young heavyweight’s wait for a fresh opponent continues.

The unbeaten Itauma, 20, secured his biggest win yet in August, stopping British compatriot Dillian Whyte in the first round. Promoter Warren then said Itauma would compete on 13 December, on the same card as Derek Chisora’s planned retirement fight at Manchester’s Co-op Live arena.

But Itauma and Chisora have had contrasting fortunes ahead of that event.

At the post-fight press conference following Fabio Wardley’s stoppage of Joseph Parker on Saturday, Warren confirmed that Chisora, 41, is set to face Whyte in a trilogy bout on 13 December.

“Yeah, yeah,” said Queensberry boss Warren. “I mean, we’ve got a couple of bits to sort out, but I’ll sort them out.”

However, he had a less-positive update on Itauma, who is now likely to wait until 2026 to return to the ring – potentially for a clash with WBA Regular champion Kubrat Pulev.

Pulev, 44, was this month ordered to face Itauma, the No 1 contender, but the Bulgarian is allowed a voluntary title defence first, which is expected to come against Murat Gassiev on 12 December.

“We’ve got to see what happens with this Pulev situation,” Warren said, “because the WBA ordered that fight, and [Pulev] can’t get out of it. We’ll see where we go with it.

“They’re talking about… they want to go to Dubai for this Gassiev fight, but the WBA have not sanctioned that fight to my knowledge. So, we are where we are.

“No, [Itauma won’t fight in Manchester on 13 December], because if he goes to fight on another… if we put him on… if we take him and say he’s fighting, then they’ll say, ‘Well, he’s not ready to fight [Pulev],’ and they want the Gassiev fight. We don’t want to go down that route.”

It was thought that the winner of Parker vs Wardley might face Itauma next, though the victor was always expected to be more likely to be paired with Oleksandr Usyk.

Usyk, the undisputed heavyweight champion, was recently ordered to defend his belts against Parker but withdrew from talks due to injury. The unbeaten Ukrainian, 38, is now expected to take on Britain’s Wardley, 30, next year.

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