Impossible to break Tyson record - Itauma

Rising British star Moses Itauma says it was "impossible" for him to break Mike Tyson's record for the youngest heavyweight world champion.

Tyson was 20 years and four months old when he became world champion in 1986, and Itauma passed that age on Saturday.

"When I turned professional it was about chasing that record. Now that record is off the books, I am just trying to take my time with it," Itauma told the BBC's 5 Live Boxing with Steve Bunce podcast.

"In the first two months of me being professional, I realised that goal's impossible. I was naive when I said that. I said that before I turned professional.

"I didn't realise how much you can't control in this boxing game. You think since I turned professional, the world champions have been Daniel Dubois, Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury.

"There's no way in two years I would have put myself in a position to fight them."

Itauma's two-round destruction of Mike Balogun on Saturday extended his record to 12 wins and 10 knockouts.

He was initially marketed as the teenager to break Tyson's record, but denied it was only ever a clever "marketing strategy" for his career.

Itauma is expected to challenge for a world title in the next few years and has been linked with a number of big names, including Joe Joyce.

Martin Bakole, Jermaine Franklin and Otto Wallin hve been mentioned as potential opponents and Itauma's promoter Frank Warren has said he will fight on the undercard of Dubois' world title fight against Oleksandr Usyk on 19 July at Wembley Stadium.

Itauma does not expect his next fight to be a big name and said his team want him to be in some "10-round fights" before moving up a level in opponents.

"There's guys that are tough cookies that ain't got a name. That's not ideal," he said.

"You want a tough guy with a good name and they aren't cheap."