{"id":57666,"date":"2025-08-10T20:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T20:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/57666\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T20:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T20:11:07","slug":"the-ming-vase-fighter-dillian-whyte-aims-to-shatter-moses-itaumas-protected-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/57666\/","title":{"rendered":"The “Ming Vase” Fighter: Dillian Whyte Aims To Shatter Moses Itauma’s Protected Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eddie Hearn says Dillian Whyte has a puncher\u2019s chance against heavy favorite Moses Itauma next Saturday, August 16th, in their headliner on DAZN PPV<\/a> in Riyadh.<\/p>\n

Hearn on Itauma\u2019s Untested Chin<\/p>\n

Hearn states that the 20-year-old Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs) still has \u201cquestion marks\u201d because he\u2019s never been \u201ctested.\u201d He can say that again. Itauma has never been matched against a live opponent, either in the pros or in the amateurs. He\u2019s fought no one during his entire life.<\/p>\n

So, Whyte, as faded as he is, is a massive step up in class from the opposition that Itauma has been fighting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think Moses is a big favorite in the fight, but let\u2019s understand. Dillian is a serious fighter. He\u2019s a tough man and he can punch,\u201d said Eddie Hearn to The Stomping Ground<\/a>, analyzing the Moses Itauma vs. Dillian Whyte fight for this Saturday.<\/p>\n

Of course, Itauma is the favorite. Whyte is old, inactive, and has been on the downside of his career for the last four years. We saw how he was knocked out by the slapper Tyson Fury in 2022.<\/p>\n

Dillian\u2019s chin has been gone since he was knocked clean out by Alexander Povetkin in 2020. That was the end for Dillian. He can still punch, but his ability to take a good shot is gone entirely. So, the only chance Whyte has in this fight is to connect with one of his big left hooks on Itauma early in the contest on August 16th.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe question mark for Moses, and purely because we haven\u2019t seen them tested, are Moses\u2019 chin and Moses\u2019 will,\u201d Hearn said. \u201cThe only way Dillian can win the fight is to test those things, but he\u2019s a good fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Itauma\u2019s Unproven Professional Record<\/p>\n

For a fighter to have been matched as weakly as Itauma has been at the amateur and professional levels, it suggests that he\u2019s been brought along strictly for financial purposes. You\u00a0can\u2019t protect a fighter the way he\u2019s been if there isn\u2019t some defect being hidden. One suspects it\u2019s the chin. It\u2019s always the chin. I\u2019ve seen it a million times with different fighters. He must have got touched up at some point, and now he\u2019s being protected like he\u2019s a valuable Ming vase. If Itauma were the real thing, he should be fighting young contenders like Lenier Pero, Richard Torrez Jr., and Dainier Pero.<\/p>\n

If the idea was to develop Itauma, he would have stayed in the amateurs and fought at the world level. He didn\u2019t do that. Itauma fought lesser amateurs and didn\u2019t face the talented fighters from the U.S, Cuba, Russia, Kazakhstan, or Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a bad style match-up for Dillian, but if he can take Moses into deep waters in the late rounds, I think he\u2019s got a chance in the fight,\u201d said Hearn about Whyte. \u201cHe\u2019s going to be a dangerous opponent for anybody. I think it\u2019s a great heavyweight matchup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Itauma won\u2019t make it easy for Whyte to land, but he\u2019s open for right hands. Although Moses is tall at 6\u20194\u2033, he doesn\u2019t extend his arms far out in front of him. It\u2019s as if he lacks the flexibility to straighten out his arms entirely. When he goes to attack, his head is wide open for right hands. Itauma depends too much on his hand speed and power to win. That\u2019ll be his downfall if Whyte can connect.<\/p>\n

Itauma\u2019s Readiness for Usyk<\/p>\n

\u201cPotentially one or two fights, but it depends on how you want to bring him through,\u201d said Hearn when asked how close Itauma is to challenging undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. \u201cHe\u2019s a fantastic young prospect. He\u2019s only young, and he\u2019s only going to get better. But if you want to roll the dice, and you believe he\u2019s good enough to beat those guys now, why not?\u201d<\/p>\n

It would be a foolish thing for Queensberry to put Itauma in with a talented fighter like Usyk. Moses has no experience at the amateur or professional level to give him a chance of defeating Usyk.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Itauma\u2019s potshot style of fighting wouldn\u2019t work against this type of fighter. You\u2019ve got to be able to throw combinations, and Itauma has never shown that he can do that. Everything with him is one punch and get out. He fights like he\u2019s hiding glass in his chin.<\/p>\n

\"YouTube<\/p>\n

Boxing News 24<\/a> \u00bb The \u201cMing Vase\u201d Fighter: Dillian Whyte Aims to Shatter Moses Itauma\u2019s Protected Record<\/p>\n

Last Updated on 08\/10\/2025 \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eddie Hearn says Dillian Whyte has a puncher\u2019s chance against heavy favorite Moses Itauma next Saturday, August 16th,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-57666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}