BANGKOK, Thailand - There was a lively start to the WBC mandatories meeting when Lawrence Okolie, ranked first at heavyweight, was ordered to face Moses Itauma for the right to challenge champion Oleksandr Usyk.
With Usyk opting to take a voluntary defense during the first half of 2026, likely against Deontay Wilder, and interim champion Agit Kabayel fighting January 10, a snit occurred on the panel when trainer Joe Gallagher asked for No. 1-ranked and two-division champion Okolie to be named the mandatory.
Sulaiman rejected the idea, saying, “We do not favor mandating fights as a protocol if [the bouts are] not of the highest possible level,” and then moved to order Okolie, 22-1 (16 KOs), to an eliminator against dynamic 20-year-old Itauma, 13-0 (11 KOs), who is ranked No. 4.
That brought British Boxing Board of Control head and WBC board member Robert Smith to announce, “That’s not going to happen. It’s sensible but not going to happen.”
Not only are Itauma and Okolie both Queensberry Promotions products, the plan had been for Itauma to fight Jermaine Franklin in January, and then meet the winner of the WBA secondary title bout between Kubrat Pulev and Murat Gassiev.
That bothered Sulaiman, who asked Smith, “Do you work for Queensberry? … This is your opinion. You’re interfering.”
A Queensberry representative, Lee Eaton, approached to state that it was too early to say whether or not Itauma and Okolie would be willing to fight each other if that bout would be ordered.
With that, the board approved Okolie-Itauma.
"It's an interesting development," Gallagher told BoxingScene. "We'll have to see what the plans are for Itauma but today's events suggest this might not be the direction that his team are planning to go. Whatever happens, though we wanted to be mandatory, we're delighted to be involved in a final eliminator. We're here to fight anyone and everyone."
