The 21-year-old British fighter is one of the brightest prospects in the sport and his promoter Frank Warren is looking to give him a title shot if he performs well in his next bout against Jermaine Franklin later this month.

Warren told Sky Sports: "He's ranked No 1 by two of the governing bodies and he wants to fight for a world title. He's made that very clear to me."

Itauma has made rapid progress during his career so far but Warren thinks the Brit is for a stern examination when he takes on American fighter Franklin in Manchester on March 28.

The promoter said: "It's a tough fight. [Franklin's] only lost two fights, a debatable, according to some people, loss to Dillian Whyte and that was four years ago. The same as the fight against AJ and AJ, three years ago, he was a really good fighter and he could bang and he couldn't put him away."

The Queensberry chief added: "We believe in him [Itauma]. It is a tough fight. He's going to have to be at his best but he's very confident. As is Franklin as well, he's very confident."

Warren feels that Itauma's performance against Franklin will be key for his world title aspirations after he only boxed twice in 2025.

He said: "It's very important to see how he comes through, what he looks like. Because he only had two fights last year. He's got to get the cobwebs out of his system."

Itauma has stressed that he is only thinking about the fight with Franklin.

The pugilist told Sky Sports News: "Let me tell you something, the past and the future don't exist, it's only the present and in the present I've got Jermaine Franklin.

"Jermaine Franklin's going to be a good fight, I'm looking forward to it."