Moses Itauma’s next opponent has been revealed while a meeting later this year against heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk hasn’t been ruled out.

Itauma, 20, has been brushing aside allcomers so far and isn’t expected to face too many problems when he comes up against American Mike Balogun when they meet on May 24.

That fight is on the undercard of Josh Taylor versus Ekow Essuman at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow.

That will be his first outing since ruthlessly seeing off Demsey McKean in Decemberwith a first-round KO at the Kingdom Arena, Riyadh on the same bill as the Usyk vs Tyson Fury rematch.

Itauma (11-0, 9KOs) has been touted as the future of the heavyweight division, and while the Balogun match-up wasn’t the big one many had hoped for, bigger challenges could come sooner than expected.

Frank Warren, head of Queensberry Promotions told Sky Sports that a fight with unified champion Usyk (23-0) could happen this year.

Warren, speaing to Sky Sports, said: “He (Itauma) could fight for a world title this year

“Who knows? He may fight [Usyk] this year. Anything’s possible

“I think within another fight or two, he’s quite capable of being in exactly the same company as all these guys.”

Boxing's high-profile fight-maker Turki Alalshikh has has previously spoken of his desire to see Itauma in the ring with Usyk, before the champion hangs up his gloves.

Itauma sparked plenty of interest when he first broke onto the scene, vowing to beatMike Tyson’s record to become the youngest ever heavyweight world champion. That’s no longer an option.

Itauma has been keen to face an opponent that could give him a challenge. In his 11 professional bouts he’s only fought 23 rounds, winning his last seven fights within the first two rounds.

But with the Tyson record now off the agenda, Itauma’s team can plot a route to the top without the need to rush. It’s perhaps why Balogun (21-1, 16KOs) has been selected rather than a more established figure.

The plan to have Itauma fighting on the recent Joe Joyce vs Filip Hrgovic ‘Heavy Impact’ show fell through, according to reports, where Ring Magazine suggested he could have been set to face Albanian veteran Nelson Hysa (22-0).

Balogun is a former American footballer. He once trained with the San Francisco 49ers but after just a couple of games for the Buffalo Bills he switched to boxing, where he won his first 19 bouts, before suffering a second-round stoppage against former cruiserweight world champion Murat Gassiev

His one fight since that loss was an eight-round unanimous points win over Lamont Capers in March last year. He’s now agreed to fight Chatham’s 20-year-old boxer who has won an army of fans for his devastating performances as a professional. They’ll be expecting another quick and ruthelss display next month.