Reports that Itauma reportedly going to take Okolie over Gassiev

First of all, this is not necessarily true as it comes from Okolie himself, but if it is, it says something about Itauma.

His camp...

Called out Usyk
Turned down Sanchez
Signed for Franklin
Mandated to fight winner of Gassiev-Pulev (Gasseiv) for a secondary belt
Will fight Okolie who has accomplished nothing at heavy, instead

I am not disrespecting the man--I wish him well. But it looks like he is just an ordinary prospect, skilled but mortal, being well-managed through the ranks.

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He is also mandated to fight Okolie for a final eliminator

 

The point is that Gassiev is far the more accomplished fighters here and it would be for a minor belt.

Before we get into any nonsense about it, Gassiev's unified title run at cruiser against Lebedev, Dorticos and Wlodarczyk, followed by moving up and recently winning the "regular" title against Pulev is pretty objectively better than Okolie's cruiswer/bridger run a against a shot Glowacki, Cieslak, Light and Rozanski. His biggest win to date at heavy is against Lerena, so...

Gassiev is clearly the more prestigious route, here.

 

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.

 

Lol. Okolie has done nothing at heavy to prove he is at Wallin's level and beaten no one at Wallin's level. And Okolie's whole career does not add up to one of Gassiev's better cruiserweight wins.

 

Kevin Lerena probably beats Wallin.

 

Based on what? The fact that you don't like Lerena?

Wallin beat Breazele, Gassiev, and have Fury an excellent fight in a losing effort. Lerena has don't nothing as notable, and there is no reason to believe this...except that you don't like him.

 

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 ?

 

Wallin's wins are better and his losses not so shameful as Lerena's. To say otherwise is just bias. Boxrec is your friend.

 

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

 

Merhy is a cruiser of no real note. Breazele is a two-time heavyweight title challenger.

 

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?