{"id":814519,"date":"2026-10-26T15:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T15:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/814519\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T15:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T15:26:09","slug":"david-haye-says-moses-itauma-should-face-former-heavyweight-champion-in-comeback-he-needs-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/814519\/","title":{"rendered":"David Haye says Moses Itauma should face former heavyweight champion in comeback: “He needs him”"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Haye<\/a> has advised Moses Itauma<\/a> to face one particular heavyweight, who can present him with the type of \u201cfear factor\u201d he needs to \u201cgrow\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old squared off with Filip Hrgovic<\/a> in August, attempting to become the youngest world heavyweight champion since Mike Tyson<\/a> dethroned Trevor Berbick in 1986.<\/p>\n

And for the first eight rounds, it appeared as though he would do just that, for Itauma had scored an early knockdown and was largely dominating their contest.<\/p>\n

By round nine, however, the explosive southpaw had reached a state of complete exhaustion and Hrgovic, taking advantage of this, managed to piece together a stunning stoppage victory.<\/p>\n

In doing so, the Croatian claimed the vacant IBF title<\/a> and is expected to face mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez early next year, while Itauma, too, is set to return to action in the first quarter of 2027.<\/p>\n

As for a comeback opponent, former two-division world champion Haye has suggested Andy Ruiz Jr, who comes off a unanimous decision defeat to Damian Knyba<\/a> in September.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Tris Dixon<\/a>, Haye explained that Ruiz, who famously scored a seventh-round finish over Anthony Joshua in 2019, would offer a level of ambition and durability.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs somebody like Andy Ruiz Jr. That\u2019s the type of fighter he needs \u2013 someone who\u2019s the real deal; someone who has been heavyweight champion; someone who\u2019s hungry; someone who\u2019s always in good fights; someone who\u2019s going to bring the pressure, the high volume, who\u2019s going to force Moses to be uncomfortable, who isn\u2019t going to get knocked out with one punch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the type of fighter he needs to grow. He needs the fear factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given his fifth-round stoppage defeat to Carl Thompson in 2004, Haye can relate to the way in which Itauma became increasingly fatigued against Hrgovic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Haye has advised Moses Itauma to face one particular heavyweight, who can present him with the type…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":814520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-814519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814519","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=814519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}