Around three weeks before the big day, an amateur marathon runner will embark on their longest steady training run.

The run won’t be the full 26.2 mile distance but it is hard, demanding, and sets the runner up mentally for the big day when the expectation is that adrenaline, determination and technique will see them safely over the line.

In some circles, Moses Itauma’s fight with Mariusz Wach on Saturday night at London's O2 Arena is being touted as the promising young heavyweight’s big step up. In reality it is the equivalent of that crucial, final test run. Fighting a big durable heavyweight like Wach may not test Itauma technically but it will highlight any holes in his preparation and is something he must do before he steps in with younger, more ambitious opponents.

The unbeaten 19 year old has blazed through his opposition to date and feels more than ready for an opponent like Wach.

“I’d like to thank my promoter and manager and, do you know what? I’d also like to thank Mariusz Wach for taking this fight because nobody else would,” he said. “On Saturday night I’m gonna display why people won’t take the fight against me.”

Wach, 38-10 (20 KOs), has had a respectable career and does have a solid chin and an iron resolve but he has been stopped four times in his career. Arslanbek Makhmudov, Martin Bakole, Jarrell Miller and Alexander Povetkin have all beaten him in the mid-to-late rounds. The quality fighters who have been taken the distance by the 44-year-old Pole tend to control the fight from start to finish but box within themselves – seemingly playing a role they have spent weeks rehearsing for rather than stretching themselves. They probably wake up the next day feeling like they could have done much more. 

Itauma, 9-0 (7 KOs), is young, hungry and keen to make his mark. There will be no treading water on Saturday night. If he senses an opportunity to run through the gears and make a statement against the veteran, he will do so.

“I’ve very grateful and privileged to be in the position that I’m in but I’m always striving for more and always striving to do more,” he said. “I’ve been hurting my sparring partners in training. I’ve been training hard for this fight and it’s going to show on Saturday night. I’m prepared for ten rounds but I’m hoping to go five.

“I just feel like it’s a winnable fight for me and I can’t see myself losing. If I go in there and take him the distance and I look good or look trash, it’s always going to be a learning curve for me. I feel like with his record – with his stature – I feel like it’s gonna be a good fight. If I do get him out of there, then people are gonna give me the credit I deserve.”

Itauma is well known for sparring the most talented heavyweights he can find. He trains alongside the former two-time unified champion Anthony Joshua, and has shared the ring with another former unified champion in Tyson Fury. 

“It’s helped me in my career but everyone has got their own path,” he said. “Tyson Fury had his own path, Anthony Joshua had his own path and I’ve got mine and Mariusz Wach is standing in it. I have to take him out.”