25 Rounds. That is all that it has taken for Moses Itauma to manoeuvre himself up to a position in the rankings among the absolute best. According to DAZN Boxing’s Ade Oladipo, “he could beat anyone in the top 10 not named Oleksandr Usyk.”
Itauma faces a British boxing fan favourite in Dillian Whyte on top of the bill this Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is a bout in which the contrast between the pair is stark. To put it into context, the new kid on the block was just 10 when Whyte was challenging Anthony Joshua for the British Title.
Whyte does not seemingly carry the same powers that he once did. His last two performances were less than impressive, against Christian Hammer and Ebenezer Tetteh, respectively. Meanwhile, the young heavyweight has skyrocketed himself to the very top of the division since his debut in 2023, now ranked #1 challenger with the WBO, and #2 with the WBA.
Oladipo, who presents live boxing on DAZN, as well as hosting his own self-titled boxing podcast and soon-to-be live show, like many fans, was unsure when the bout was first announced.
“I got rumours of it about two, three months ago, and I was confused, thinking this is almost suicide.
“It is the first fight where Dillian has now been fed to the wolves, where he’s normally the wolf. I thought Moses was going to destroy him.
“I thought Moses is too fast, too young, too fresh. So in a very long-winded answer, I didn’t like it.”
Much like any fight, though, the more the fight grows nearer, it isn’t uncommon to have second thoughts on how a fight might go. Particularly in this case, once you have seen the shape, ‘The Body Snatcher’ is showing up in.
You start to doubt whether your eyes have been playing tricks on you, and maybe Itauma isn’t as good as he seems. Or maybe Whyte can recapture his form from previous fights, such as Derek Chisora.
For Ade, there is now a narrative in the fight that he didn’t previously see.
“Now, I love it because there’s so much jeopardy.
“We’ve all crowned Moses the next king of boxing. The pressure on Moses to ice Dillian is through the roof. And I think the pressure for Dillian to not get smashed to pieces is so big as well. So I think it’s actually intriguing.”
The main takeaway from this fight, as has been the case in the previous few, but still remains unanswered, is ‘just how good is Moses Itauma?’. Every step up, it is expected that he will be tested enough so that we can see what level the 20-year-old is really at.
Instead, he continues to do what he’s always done and finishes his opposition early, and in emphatic fashion. Mariusz Wach, Demsey McKean and Mike Balogun, it’s been the same tale played on repeat. What level does this put Itauma at, however?
“On ability, I think he’s better than some guys in the top 10. But the guys in the top 10 have beaten someone in the top 10.” Says Ade.
“I have him as like a solid top 15 guy that is capable of beating everyone not named Oleksandr Usyk. I think he’s that good.
“I just know he’s good. Hearing the stories of sparring. What he’s doing to named fighters whom I won’t reveal in sparring is laughable.
“So I think he could be anything he wants to be if he can keep his feet on the ground.”
Fortunately for boxing fans, we don’t have to wait long to see the levels of Frank Warren’s latest talent in the heavyweight division, tested against a gatekeeper of the past. The only question would then remain: who next?
