Reports that Itauma reportedly going to take Okolie over Gassiev

He is also mandated to fight Okolie for a final eliminator

 

Say what you want about Okolie

 

Legacy privilege. Okolie has lost badly as a champion but not to someone of Wallins level. I'd perfer Gassiev but Okolie is a good option at this point in his career, especially since it's for a final eliminator. Regular belt is not as strong of a position as interim. The purpose of regular belt is purely more sanctioning fees

 

Okolie is actually a pretty good match up. He'll definitely frustrate itauma and answer some questions.

 

Kevin Lerena probably beats Wallin.

 

Based on Wallin getting beat up by a shot Chisora in a non competitive fight. Beyond that he hasn't beaten anyone besides Gassiev himself and should've lost to Sokolowski, so Lerena having a solid chance at beating him shouldn't even be a controversial opinion especially when he had Dubois down 3 times and gave contender Huni nightmares. Why is Lerena being Wallin level so crazy to you ?

 

How ? Breazeale beat no one and was shot when Wallin got him, he was no better than Merhy or an old Wach, it's Gassiev himself who is by far Wallins best win. A prime Wallin performed worse against Chisora than a shot Washington

 

As opposed to Gassiev and Franklin, who have set the world on fire at HW? He is still only 20 with a limited amateur pedigree. I'm not really sure who else he should be fighting at this point to get the necessary experience before he bridges the gap to world level. I've watched the sport for 20+ years, and Itauma is absolutely not an ordinary prospect. I'm not sure which prospects you'd consider better than him in the sport at the moment, especially at heavyweight.

 

I'm not seeing how Gassiev is any better than Okolie in 2026 ..... what am i missing here?

If anything, Okolie is the fresher, potentially better, opponent, moving forward. Is that wrong?