Would Itauma be branded a fake champion if he wins a vacant belt until he beats Usyk?

No champion is champion. Usyk didn’t fight him. In fact they are not in the same era. If he beats his contemporaries and unifies what more can you ask of him?

 

Usyk is 39 coming off his crappiest performance, I think itauma’s legacy’ll be fine without beating him

 

Calling him a fake champ is what idiots and fakeass boxing fans do. If given the opportunity, should he say no??? Usyk's made it clear he won't fight him. So.....????

 

Not if Usyk won't fight him and he wins that title in the ring.

 

different eras, just an overlap I don’t see the need for him to fight usyk to validate himself as a proper champ

whatever happens to his career going forward I’ll never think “but he didn’t fight usyk”

 

The key here is that Usyk voluntarily gave up the titles. That's not Itauma's fault. As for the champs in the alphabet organizations who were just given titles, I won't think of them as a champ until they defend their title successfully against a relatively top fighter. That includes Kabayel and Gassiev.

 

Usyk has for all intents and purposes retired. Honestly beating Hrgovic is one of the better fights you can make for a title fight right now.

 

The divison has to march on.

 

Usyk willingly gave up his titles and has one foot out of the sport.

 

Yeah they cant wait around for a near 40 yr old to decide whether he wants to fight or not. They have other things to considerm

 

Usyk 2.5 years back and Itauma 2.5 years ahead would be a well aligned.

At the moment I kind of respect both for letting it go.

Still would be interesting of course ... but IMO the historical legacy of the outcome would be too far out of prime/prime context.

 

No, why fake champion? Itauma has shown excellent skills so far, and if he can confirm that with a strong performance against the solid Hrgovic and then win the world title, he'll be a fully deserved champion. Then we'll see where we can go from there, of he wins the world title it would be great to see him then against Kabayel. But time is up, Moses has plenty of time because he's very young, and August is coming.

 

not until he beats Usyk but all heavyweight titles have a legitimacy problem until the best in the division collide to establish who the man is

 

Unless Turki baits him out with another fat purse for the Fury trilogy, Usyk will never fight anyone with a pulse again