In May of this year, this observer penned a column here on The Boxing Truth®️ that asked a simple, yet complex question. Is Moses Itauma the future of the Heavyweight division? A question asked in the aftermath of his second round knockout of Mike Balogun in Glasgow, Scotland where the twenty year old “Knockout Artist" moved to 12-0, with 10 Knockouts in defense of regional championships, the WBO Intercontinental and WBA International Heavyweight titles.
Although only twenty years old with a relatively short resume in the professional ranks, the fact that Itauma had already achieved success in winning regional titles, which is used not only as a theoretical measuring stick for experts to gage the potential of prospects turned contenders as potential world title hopefuls down the line, but more specifically, a caveat to elevating a fighter up the world rankings towards that goal, made the question seem appropriate. As experienced and knowledgeable as yours truly is, having spent most of my life covering Boxing and by extension combat sports, I obviously did not know at the time I wrote that column that Itauma and his promoter Hall of Famer Frank Warren were preparing to roll the dice.
Boxing by its very nature is a sport ideal for taking risks and in taking said risks, those doing so are gambling their standings and potential future positions in their division as well as the sport. The Heavyweight division, perhaps more than most, is one where risks need to be taken and done so regularly if one is serious about challenging for a world championship. In this case, Warren, who has been one of the top promoters in the sport for decades, opted to put his charge in with what was a significant step up in class in the form of former longtime number one Heavyweight contender and former world title challenger Dillian Whyte on August 16th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Such an encounter beyond the obvious angle of youth versus experience was indeed a gamble at this stage in the twenty year old Itauma’s career. Despite having previously faced former world title challenger Mariusz Wach, there was an argument to be made that Wach was not the fighter he had been when he was viewed as a top contender when Itauma fought him in July of last year in stopping him in two rounds. This, however, was a scenario where Whyte was more towards a point where he had challenged for a world title in 2022, and not more than a decade removed from challenging for world title as Wach had been.
The question for Whyte, who had only fought twice since 2022 was what he had left at this stage in his career after a seventh round stoppage of Ebenezer Tetteh in his last outing in December of last year. Although Whyte got the stoppage in that fight, it was a workmanlike performance rather than one that necessarily convinced fans and experts that Whyte was still a player in the division.
As had been the case in his fight with Mike Balogun earlier this year, Itauma was surgical in both his approach of Whyte and in his temperament in that he was not awed by Whyte’s experience or what the former world title challenger brought to the table. He simply came forward out of the southpaw stance behind a consistent jab and patiently waited for an opportunity to strike. It would not take long.
A short left hook to the head buckled the legs of Whyte and the follow-up barrage of blows led to a right hand that dropped Whyte in the first round. As he had done throughout his career in situations where he had been hurt or dropped, Whyte was very “Game" and got to his feet. He was on very unsteady legs and stumbled backwards forcing the fight to be stopped at 1:59 of round one. Despite the significant test and roll of the dice this fight appeared to be on paper, Moses Itauma passed it with flying colors.
The eleventh knockout in thirteen fights for Itauma puts him in prime position for either a world title shot as the current WBO number one Heavyweight contender or potentially a fight against former WBO Heavyweight world champion Joseph Parker, who currently holds interim championship status in the WBO’s Heavyweight ratings. While Parker is in line to face the recently recrowned Undisputed World Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, the possibility exists that Usyk, who recently asked for an extension from the WBO before being mandated to face Parker, that Itauma could be moved into a fight against Parker, particularly off of the strength of this latest performance. Whether or not that indeed happens remains to be seen, but even with a limited resume, the idea of giving Moses Itauma more time to gain experience before challenging for a world title has now passed and the reality is after taking what some saw as a gamble, which clearly paid off, the only fighter that might be standing in the way of a world title shot is Joseph Parker. If Usyk is not going to be in the immediate future for Parker, why not make that fight? It is a high risk scenario for both fighters, but Boxing is a sport of risk, but also reward.
“And That's The Boxing Truth."
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