Lawrence Okolie has refused to rule out a future fight with fellow heavyweight Moses Itauma, who he sparred when the burgeoning star was just 15 years old.

Okolie (21-1, 16 KOs) has fought above the 200-pound limit twice now, once at bridgerweight and once at heavyweight, so is fully acclimatised to boxing's blue-ribbon division by now.

Over the past 18 months, Itauma (11-0, 9 KOs) has crashed, banged and walloped his way to the upper echelons of the heavyweight division, and he now finds himself ranked No. 2 with the WBO and No. 3 with the WBA.

Aged just 20, he'd originally set himself the target of breaking Mike Tyson's record of becoming the youngest world heavyweight champion in history, but that date will pass in the next few weeks.

A shot at heavyweight gold could be in the offing by the end of the year, however. Current WBC/WBO/WBA and The Ring champion Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) is expected to box for undisputed honours with IBF title holder Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) at some point in 2025 but after that, the belts could splinter.

Itauma will be waiting to strike, and so could No. 3 ranked heavyweight with the WBC Lawrence Okolie, who takes on Richard Riakporhe on April 5 in Manchester on the Dillian Whyte-Joe Joyce undercard.

Okolie and Itauma have some fleeting history, having sparred numerous times in 2021 as the former was preparing for his WBO cruiserweight title shot against Krzysztof Glowacki.

Itauma was just 15, but Okolie raved at the time about his power, naming him as one of the strongest punchers he'd ever faced in the ring.

In an interview with The Ring, Okolie touched on those comments when asked if he remembered who he might have named as his hardest-hitting adversary four years ago.

Okolie said: "So if it was 2020 or 2021, before the Glowacki fight...that would've been [Moses] Itauma, who else punches hard...maybe AJ?"

"[Itauma] is someone who I'm always rooting for. You know when you scream and shout about someone and they live up to the hype that you put behind them.

"As I said then - at just 15 years old he was a monster, let alone now. So hats off to him for keeping up the work.

"You never know [about a future fight]. I was saying no originally but the way he's moving, he's moving too quickly so you can never say never."

Itauma's next opponent has yet to be confirmed, but it's thought a clash with the WBO's No. 1 ranked fighter Justis Huni (12-0, 7 KOs) could take place this spring.

In his last fight, Itauma destroyed Demsey McKean in one round on the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury card back in December.