It says a lot about the progress Moses Itauma has made in the two years since he turned professional that the 20 year-old British prodigy already watches events at the very top of the heavyweight division through the eyes of a genuine contender rather than a young hopeful.

Last month, Daniel Dubois was set to defend his IBF heavyweight title against Joseph Parker on the epic ‘The Last Crescendo’ card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Two days before the fight, illness struck the Londoner and an eleventh hour search commenced for a suitable opponent for Parker.

As heavyweights and their connections around the world scrambled to volunteer their services, Itauma, 11-0 (9 KOs), calmly watched the whole situation play out.

Eventually, the highly ranked Martin Bakole answered the call.

Parker, of course, stepped over the banana skin and got rid of Bakole before the assignment entered dangerous territory. The giant Congolese fighter caused Parker a couple of early moments of concern but was dropped and stopped midway through the second round of the WBO interim title fight by a right hand.

Bakole - who already had an IBF final eliminator with Nigeria’s Efe Ajagba scheduled for early May - left Saudi Arabia with the respect of the boxing world and a sizeable paycheck but seeing one of the more avoided men in the heavyweight division crumbling to the canvas will have given his rivals an undoubted boost, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it.

Itauma told Queensberry that he wouldn’t have made the same choice.

“Personally, if I was in Bakole’s position I wouldn't do it,” he said. “Only because - for example - my brother messaged the family group chat saying, ‘The boogeyman’s gone’ and then my other brother said ‘That's not fair.’

“It's not fair because had Bakole had a full training camp that fight maybe might have gone differently but I feel like I'm taking credit away from Joseph Parker. I'm not. I do think Joseph Parker is a hell of a fighter and then obviously he had to have had some sort of sauce to beat Bakole but, like, it’s a late replacement, X,Y,Z.

“But I don't want to downplay Parker’s performance. He boxed very well.”

Last December, Itauma breezed through what was due to be his toughest test and took out Australia’s Demsey McKean, 22-2 (14 KOs), inside a round.

Itauma’s latest opponent is due to be announced shortly but he is now firmly in the bracket where fighters want a meaningful reward - either professional or financial - for taking him on.

“I don't need no knock over jobs,” Itauma said.

“I don’t need no fights that go one or two rounds. I need good quality title fights with people with good rankings, good contenders and stamp my name on this sport you know because that's what it’s about.”