Fabio Wardley has maintained that a world title defence against Moses Itauma is an ‘impossibility’.

The WBO heavyweight champion and his team are currently putting together their plans for the first defence of his title with a spring outing likely.

Wardley (20-0, 19 KOs) has revealed that broad conversations about a potential clash with Derek Chisora have been ongoing while even the returning Tyson Fury has called the Ipswich heavyweight out.

But one man Wardley insists is still nowhere near his radar is Itauma, the 21-year-old rising star. The pair currently work with Ben Davison in Harlow, Essex and 31-year-old Wardley has always played down the chances of them fighting, insisting that stance has not changed.

“I don’t think that’s a bridge either of us are anywhere near at the moment,” he told The Ring.

“Right now we very much see each other as stablemates and he is someone I train next to. With us being in the same gym next to each other, it’s just an impossibility right now.”

Itauma (13-0, 11 KOs) had been scheduled to face Jermaine Franklin on January 24 but an injury to the undefeated ace means the fight has been postponed until March 28.

However, Frank Warren remains in a rush to secure Itauma a world title shot and, having missed the chance to beat Mike Tyson’s record as youngest world heavyweight champion ever, the promoter has targeted a different one.

Now they have ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed’s record as Britain’s youngest ever world champion in their sights, and have until July to do it. Hamed was 21 years and seven months old when he beat Steve Robinson to become WBO featherweight champion in September 1995 and Itauma might yet chase down that target.

However, with a fight against Ring Magazine champion Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the other three alphabet titles, seemingly unlikely, that leaves only Wardley as a divisional beltholder.

“Don’t get me wrong, I want to see him do well, kick on and smash that record as well but just not with my belt,” Wardley added.

“Obviously I understand the interest from everyone wanting to look at us and see our two styles, see us as two fighters and say ‘yep, that’d be a great matchup’. But right now, nothing like that is going to come together just because of circumstance.”

Instead, Wardley is adamant the pair will not be forced to fight until they share all world titles between them leaving a fight to decide the No. 1 in the division as their only option.

He said: “Ultimately, there’s still a lot out there for both of us to tick off before we ever need to really seriously have a look at each other. I know I’ve got one world title and he’s hoping to pick up another, but that still leaves two others out there as well to go grab.

“So look, maybe once I’ve got two and he’s got two, then maybe we need to have a serious conversation about it.”