{"id":77169,"date":"2025-08-18T10:16:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T10:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/77169\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T10:16:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T10:16:15","slug":"the-crucial-unknowns-behind-moses-itauma-boxings-newest-superstar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/77169\/","title":{"rendered":"The crucial unknowns behind Moses Itauma, boxing\u2019s newest superstar"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took Moses Itauma<\/a> less than two minutes to drop and stop Dillian Whyte<\/a> in Riyadh on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Whyte was sent sprawling from a short right hook<\/a>; he fell face first heavily and somehow beat the count, but his legs betrayed him for just a few seconds. He stood, unsteady and glassy eyed, and the fight was sensibly waved off. Whyte complained, Itauma celebrated, and the sport has a new star<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Itauma is just 20<\/a>, the win was his 13th and the eighth to finish in the first round \u2013 it was, however, his first win against a named and respected opponent. There will be voices of criticism pointing out that Whyte had previously been stopped three times and that he is, at 37, too old for the game. Forget that, because it was still a big step up in class for Itauma.<\/p>\n

Whyte had prepared in private and in solitude, his anger at being overlooked a clear motivation. He had also transformed his body; in his previous fight last December he had been 261lb, but for Itauma he had trimmed down to just 244lbs. It was the lightest he has been for 10 years. There was clearly a lot of pride involved. \u201cI just wish the people giving me no chance would come up to my face and say it to me,\u201d Whyte had told me two nights before the fight. He had not accepted Itauma as a payday \u2013 he believed he could win.<\/p>\n

On the night, Whyte never looked comfortable, never looked relaxed, and in the short life of the fight, he barely threw a punch. Whyte was clipped very early by a punch over a jab that he missed with. It was an early warning, but more than that, it showed Whyte just how fast Itauma was, and just how easy he could be hit by the younger man.<\/p>\n

\"Moses<\/p>\n

Moses Itauma (right) made short work of Dillian Whyte in Riyadh on Saturday (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Itauma looked calm from the opening bell \u2013 he seemed calm during the six minutes that Whyte kept him waiting in the ring. Itauma never wasted a punch, never got too close, and picked every punch he landed with. He is tremendously methodical in his approach.<\/p>\n

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After about a minute of measuring and movement, Whyte was clipped high on the head by a right hook, and he fell back to the ropes, still upright, but stunned. The young heavyweight switched to the body, went back to the head, and as Whyte teetered desperately along the ropes, Itauma adjusted his feet and landed the final punch. Whyte went down in a heap.<\/p>\n

It was a dream finish in many ways, but not in all ways: Itauma needs competitive rounds, there are still things that we need to see. There remain a lot of crucial unknowns in the boxing<\/a> life and career of Moses Itauma. How will Itauma fair in deeper waters? How will he fare if he\u2019s caught clean on the chin? \u201cWe see what he can do in the gym every day,\u201d said Ben Davison, his trainer, \u201cbut I did want some more rounds.\u201d Whyte had been selected for his toughness, but he couldn\u2019t pose the key questions.<\/p>\n

\"Whyte<\/p>\n

Whyte did get back to his feet but stumbled in the corner, and the fight was waved off (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The defeat was Whyte\u2019s fourth, while Itauma remained unbeaten (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

It should be said that if Itauma was from New York or Las Vegas, we would be raving about him being the saviour of boxing. Instead, he is from Chatham in Kent. He started his young life in Slovakia. It makes no difference; he can fight.<\/p>\n

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On the Thursday before the first bell, I sat with Frank Warren, who is Itauma\u2019s promoter. He was confident Itauma would win, but he knew the risks. I asked him if Itauma would be ready for a world-title fight if he beat Whyte. He never hesitated for a second and replied: \u201cIt depends how he wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the fight up in the ring, I spoke to Warren again. He was amazed at Itauma\u2019s composure, his ability to not let his heart rule his head. I asked him again if he would put Itauma in a world-title fight? \u201cIn theory, yes,\u201d was his reply this time. It seems everybody wants the kid to get some rounds.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Independent\u2019s columnist Steve Bunce speaking with a victorious Itauma (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\"Itauma<\/p>\n

Itauma said he does not deserve to face Oleksandr Usyk next (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In the ring, I also asked Itauma if he was ready for a world-title fight against the undisputed champion, Oleksandr Usyk<\/a>. \u201cNo, I don\u2019t deserve that just yet,\u201d he replied honestly and openly. \u201cLet me fight the others, the men who are meant to fight him. I would fight [Agit] Kabayel and [Joseph] Parker.\u201d It was not a challenge, just a simple sentence of fact.<\/p>\n

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At ringside, Parker was quick to say that he would fight Itauma. However, Parker is the WBO\u2019s mandatory for Usyk, and the negotiations for that fight have been extended to September. \u201cThere is no rush,\u201d Parker said. And that is the truth.<\/p>\n

Itauma moved a stepped closer to proving all the predictions right on Saturday night and now everybody is watching.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It took Moses Itauma less than two minutes to drop and stop Dillian Whyte in Riyadh on Saturday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,17733,528,17735,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-77169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-dillian-whyte","12":"tag-getty-images","13":"tag-moses-itauma","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}