The Boxing Truth®: Moses Itauma

Showing posts with label Moses Itauma. Show all posts

Monday, August 18, 2025

The Gamble Pays Off For Itauma, Parker Next?

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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Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Moses Itauma: The Future of the Heavyweight Division?

In the sport of Boxing it seems like every few years there is a prospect in a given division that stands out amongst the rest and emerges as someone that might be viewed as the division’s future central figure. More often than not, what gets that type of buzz started is when a fighter produces a string of knockouts on their rise that naturally generates interest. This is especially true when the division in question is the Heavyweight division.

From the days of Joe Louis, to the rise of a young Mike Tyson, and so on, there is nothing quite like a Heavyweight that is on the rise who demonstrates an ability to score quick and often devastating knockouts as they climb through the ranks. While Louis and Tyson are two fighters this observer named off the top of his head, the reality is one can pick just about any era in Boxing history where one will be able to point out at least a few fighters regardless of division that fit the label of “Knockout Artist."

In regard to the Heavyweights, the latest prospect that fits that description is the undefeated Moses Itauma. Itauma, has quickly emerged as a fighter to watch that frankly is turning heads due to his punching power and ability to get an opponent out of there quickly. After a brief amateur career where he went unbeaten, Itauma turned professional in January 2023 and went on to compile eleven victories with nine coming by way of knockout.

This led to Itauma’s most recent fight on May 24th in Glasgow, Scotland where he faced veteran Mike Balogun in a scheduled ten round bout with the WBO’s regional Intercontinental and the WBA’s International Heavyweight titles on the line. While the titles are footnotes, in reality, they do serve a vital role in terms of elevating fighters into the world rankings with the obvious goal of getting into position to challenge for a world championship. More important than two regional titles being at stake, this fight represented what appeared to be a step up for Itauma in terms of caliber of opponent as Mike Balogun came into the fight with a record of 21-1, with 16 Knockouts and had more experience than Itauma, though recent opponents have had similar records as Balogun, which serves as an indication that Itauma is definitely being groomed as a potential world title challenger in the not too distant future.

While the expectation of at least some when a fighter with an experience edge over a fighter who has risen quickly, is to see if that fighter will be able to draw upon that experience to provide a test, it is also interesting to see how the fast rising fighter will approach the opponent knowing that they carry more experience. In this case, Itauma’s approach in this fight was in a word “Surgical."

Boxing out of the southpaw stance, Itauma quickly got his right jab going before quickly flooring Balogun with a flush left hook to the head. To his credit, Balogun got up from the knockdown and attempted to bring the fight to Itauma, but the difference in punching power was evident as Balogun was unable to land anything to discourage Itauma from coming forward, but did manage to make it out of the first round, which three of Itauma’s last five opponents were unable to do.

This accomplishment, however, would not deter Itauma as he immediately dropped Balogun for the second time seconds into round two hard on the canvas courtesy of another left hook to the jaw. Despite the appearance and sound of a knockout courtesy of a human body falling hard on the canvas, Balogun showed his determination by getting up at the count of nine. As he had done following the first knockdown, Balogun tried to fight back, but his courage would not be enough as Itauma zeroed in and sent Balogun down hard for a third time, this time with a right hook, prompting a stoppage of the bout just forty-six seconds into the second round.

When this observer uses the term “Surgical" in describing Itauma, I not only mean in the way he approached his opponent here, but also the surgical precision, in which he strategically placed his punches and maintained his composure. Sometimes when a fighter is blessed with the type of punching power that can end fights quickly, there can be a tendency to be a bit over aggressive in trying to finish an opponent following a knockdown, which in turn depending on how hurt the opponent is and their skillset, could present an opportunity to catch the fighter with a counter punch that do not see. The poise Itauma showed was of a fighter with more experience than his twelve fights would indicate.

It is that limited resume, however, that has produced what could turn out to be a conundrum for his team and his Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren in that though with only twelve fights Itauma is just at the point where most fighters are approaching prospect status on the verge of trying to break into the top fifteen or top ten in terms of the world rankings, per his holding regional titles in both the WBO and WBA, Moses Itauma is already rated in the top three of both sanctioning organizations, despite only having one name of significance on his record thus far in the form of former world title challenger Mariusz Wach, who was many years removed from being among the top contenders in the Heavyweight division at the time that Itauma fought him and stopped him in two rounds in July of last year.

Although it is not uncommon for fighters on the way up to be pitted against fighters, who have some name recognition, but who's competitive best days are behind them, Wach, who is to date the most experienced opponent Itauma has fought, offered no resistance. The criticism therein, as has been the case for countless fighters who have ascended up the ranks without facing a top contender to get into that position, is whether politics that be in the sport could be at play could have influenced said ranking.

Is Moses Itauma the future of the Heavyweight division? For the moment one cannot and should not attempt to answer that question if they are objective. The reason for that is there are unanswered questions that will need to be answered. One, how will Itauma respond to adversity under such scenarios like what might happen if he is hurt or knocked down by an opponent, or how he will respond if someone is able to take his best power shots and keep coming forward without going down. Something else one should keep in mind is Itauma has only been extended as far as six rounds twice in his career up to this point and as he is now on a level where he is competing in fights that are scheduled for ten rounds, with an eye towards competing for a world title where the distance is twelve rounds, it is only a matter of when he will be extended further and what opponent will be able to take him into the deeper waters of a fight before we might get some clarity.

What could be both good and bad news depending on one's perspective is with his ranking being so high in two of the five major world sanctioning organizations, it will likely not take long before we start getting that clarity. For the moment, however. Moses Itauma is on the short list of potential future central figures of the Heavyweight division and it may be a question of how long does his team and his promoter want to give him to get more polish and refinement before taking a gamble by trying to get him in a world championship fight. If Itauma takes on this pace and continues to win, it would not surprise yours truly to see him challenging for a world championship within the next twelve months, where most likely he will still be under twenty professional fights in his career.