Heavyweight Moses Itauma is seen by some fans as the UK’s next world champion. They are impressed with the knockouts the fringe contender is getting, but he still hasn’t fought anyone to show if he’s the real deal.
His promoter is carefully putting him together as he should, but fans may be disappointed when Itauma finally faces someone with real talent.
20-year-old Itauma (11-0, 9 KOs), promoted by Frank Warren, knocked out assistant Demsey McKean in the first round last week in Riyadh and wowed his British fans with his potential. At first, he landed McKean on the back of the head with a left and knocked him down again.
The next big thing?
Some boxing fans say that Itauma broke Mike Tyson’s record and became the world’s fastest heavyweight champion. That is NOT happening. Itauma CANNOT break Mike Tyson’s record unless he fights for the world title within the next four months. Mike Tyson was 20 years and four months old when he won his first world title, stopping WBC champion Trevor Berbick in the second round on November 22, 1986.
It would be a bad idea to put Moses Itauma alongside heavyweight champions Daniel Dubois or Oleksandr Usyk. He would probably be exposed, just like his brother Karol Itauma.
It is still too early to tell if Itauma will succeed as he has yet to fight a world class heavyweight and he is not tall at 6’2″. Itauma’s brother, Karol, also looked good early on, but when he faced a decent light heavyweight, Ezequiel Osvaldo Maderno, he was knocked out in the fifth round.
Every fighter looks good initially when they go up against the type of opponent that Moses fought.
Drinking the Kool-Aid
“They’re looking at this kid as the next big heavyweight to come out of England and they might be right,” Teddy Atlas said on his channeltalking about 19-year-old Moses Itauma. “Ben Davison is the coach. He’s the same guy who trains [Anthony] Joshua and does a good job with him.
“His talent is inevitable. He doesn’t look like a guy who hits hard until he hits you. He is[Itauma] has a chance to break Mike Tyson’s record and become the youngest heavyweight of all time. He’s only 11-0 though.”
Itauma is a decent competitor, but I don’t see him winning a world title unless he follows in the footsteps of Kubrat Pulev and Mahmoud Charr by winning the WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight belt. It doesn’t take great talent to win that belt. While Usyk and Dubois are there, Itauma will not win any of the prestigious belts.
If some of the other contenders, like Agito Kabayel or Martin Bakole, get their hands on the world title, I don’t see them beating either of them. Itauma is a good base contender, but NOT the next British Heavyweight Champion. He will not replace Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua as the next star in the UK.
“He has a great promoter, Frank Warren,” Atlas said of Itauma. “He has talent, but he doesn’t have the experience to fight Usyk or Dubois.
He has the speed for it [power]. He is calm, self-confident, and his technique is solid. They did a good job with him. You have to have good technique if you want to have talent. He showed me that he is smart,” said Atlas.
