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Heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma is considered by some fans to be the UK’s next world champion. They’re impressed by the knockouts the fringe contender is scoring, but he hasn’t fought anyone yet to prove if he’s real.
His promoter is carefully matching him as he should, but fans might be disappointed when Itauma finally faces someone with real talent.
Itauma (11-0, 9 KOs), promoted by Frank Warren, knocked out journeyman Demsey McKean in the first round last week in Riyadh and has his British fans excited about his potential. He initially dropped McKean with a left to the back of the head and dropped him again.
The next big thing?
Some boxing fans have been talking about Itauma breaking Mike Tyson’s record of becoming the fastest world heavyweight champion. That is NOT happening. Itauma CANNOT break Mike Tyson’s record unless he gets a world title shot within the next four months. Mike Tyson was 20 years and four months old when he captured his first world title, defeating WBC champion Trevor Berbick in the second round on November 22, 1986.
It would be a bad idea to put Moses Itauma with heavyweight champions Daniel Dubois or Oleksandr Usyk. He would probably be exposed, like his brother, Karol Itauma.
It’s still too early to say if Itauma will be successful because he has yet to fight a world-class heavyweight and he’s not 6’2″. Itauma’s brother Karol also looked good initially, but when he faced a decent light heavyweight, Ezequiel Osvaldo Maderna, he was knocked out in the fifth round.
All of the fighters look good initially when facing the type of opposition that Moisés has been fighting.
Drinking Kool-Aid
“They’re looking at this guy as the next big heavyweight to come out of England, and they might be right,” Teddy Atlas said in his channeltalking about Moisés Itauma, 19 years old. “Ben Davison is the coach. He’s the same guy who trains (Anthony) Joshua and he’s doing a good job with him.
“His talent is inescapable. He doesn’t seem like a guy who’s a big puncher until he hits you. He (Itauma) has a chance to break Mike Tyson’s record and become the youngest heavyweight of all time. Although he only has a record of 11-0.”
Itauma is a decent contender, but I don’t see him winning a world title unless he follows the route of Kubrat Pulev and Mahmoud Charr capturing the ‘regular’ WBA heavyweight belt. It doesn’t take much talent to win that belt. As long as Usyk and Dubois are present, Itauma will not win any of the prestigious belts.
If some of the other contenders, like Agit Kabayel or Martin Bakole, get a world title, I don’t see him beating any of them. Itauma is a good basic contender but NOT the next British Heavyweight Champion. He won’t 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 the talent, but he doesn’t have the experience to fight an Usyk or a Dubois.
He has the speed to go with it (power). He is calm, confident and his technique is solid. They’ve done a good job with it. You have to have good technique if you want to have talent. He showed me that he is smart,” Atlas said.
