Barry McGuigan breaks down heavyweight’s top contenders: “Hands like lightning”

Barry McGuigan believes one man will go far in the heavyweight division

Barry McGuigan MBE is one of the sport's most recognisable and widely respected voices.

The former world champions' opinions are highly regarded, and the Mirror recently tasked the 64-year-old with ranking Usyk’s ten toughest prospective heavyweight foes.

Taking the top three spots, Fabio Wardley (1), Moses Itauma (2), and Agit Kabayel (3), came as Usyk’s trickiest tests.

Speaking on his decision to give Wardley the top spot, McGuigan revealed that he believes Wardley's destructive power means that he is a danger to whoever stands in front of him.

“He deserves the ranking. As he often is, Wardley was behind against Joseph Parker yet, as I predicted, found a way to win,” McGuigan stated in a Daily Mirror column.

“That’s the beauty of the old equaliser, you need pull it out of the bag only once.”

However, despite him putting the Ipswich fighter at the top of his list, McGuigan did reveal that he believes another Brit may be the sport's biggest talent.

“A southpaw with hands like lightening, Itauma is the most exciting prospect on the planet,” the Irishman said of 20-year-old Moses Itauma. He punches accurately as well as hard, the combination of speed and power [is] an explosive cocktail.”

While he was full of compliments for the youngster, McGuigan did admit that he is still largely untested as a professional, having only been taken beyond the second round on one occasion.

“Can he go the distance flat out? Can he take an elite punch? They are the only questions left to answer.”