Heavyweight contender Moses Itauma faces a severe backlash from fans if he loses to journeyman Dillian Whyte in their fight in 13 days on DAZN PPV on August 16th in Riyadh. Some fans already see Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs) as a hype job, similar to Daniel Dubois, with a 100% padded record consisting of exclusively lower-level opposition.
PPV Rush: Fan Backlash
Why Fans are Skeptical about Itauma
- Fighting on PPV: being moved this quickly into PPV without pro or amateur credentials reeks of cash-out by Itauma and his management. He hasn’t fought anyone remotely good enough at any stage of his professional or amateur career to be fighting on pay-per-view.
- Weak Opposition: Itauma’s inflated 12-fight resume, consisting of D-level opposition, suggests that his career is being artificially manufactured.
- Mental Question marks: We don’t know if Moses can handle being pressured by quality heavyweights that won’t just let him land at will In the amateur ranks, Itauma looked stressed out in one of his fights where he was fighting an inspired opponent.
A loss for Itauma wouldn’t be a surprise because he’s fought no one in the pros or even in the amateurs to show whether he’s even capable of beating an over-the-hill fighter like Whyte.
Itauma’s Unjustified Ranking
The sanctioning bodies have vaulted Itauma high in their rankings despite him having zero wins against contenders. For example, the WBO has Itauma ranked #1 and the WBA at #2. Does he deserve the high ranking? You decide. Here are Itauma’s best wins:
– Mike Balogun: 41
– Demsey McKean: 34
– Mariusz Wach: 45
– Ilja Mezencev
Amateur Credentials Lacking
Usually, fighters aren’t fighting on PPV this early in their careers unless they come from Olympic backgrounds and have won gold medals. Itauma doesn’t fit that category. He has a short 20-fight amateur career and never fought in the Olympics.
He wasn’t matched against the best amateurs in the world from countries like Cuba. If Itauma had won a gold medal like Anthony Joshua, Sugar Ray Leonard, or Oscar De La Hoya, moving to PPV this early in his career would make sense. That doesn’t apply here. Itauma is just a regular guy who is being hyped by the media, heavily marketed like a product, and fed tomato cans to give the appearance of greatness.
Itauma will be fighting the 37-year-old Dillian Whyte behind pay-per-view on DAZN PPV on August 16th.
We already saw Itauma’s heavily hyped brother, Karol Itauma, exposed recently, getting knocked out by a journeyman in 2023. Before that, he’d had a perfect 9-0 record and was seen as a future world champion.
Last Updated on 08/03/2025
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