August 16th: Moses Itauma vs. Dillian Whyte Confirmed as Riyadh Main Event

Moses Itauma and former heavyweight world title challenger Dillian Whyte are reportedly finalizing a headliner fight on August 16th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This is one of three fights on the August 16th card.

Itauma-Whyte Saudi Arabia Main Event

With this scrap being the main event in Saudi Arabia, it’s believed that the untested, heavily hyped Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs) and the 37-year-old Whyte (31-3, 21 KOs) could receive huge purses that are way above what they deserve to be making.

It’s a card slanted toward the British audiences, as they’re the ones who would be excited at seeing Itauma fight Whyte. U.S fans don’t rate either of these heavyweights. So, it won’t interest them.

Planned August 16th Fight

• Moses Itauma vs. Dillian Whyte – Headliner. Itauma is facing a struggling Whyte, who in his final years as a pro with every little left in the tank after being knocked out by Tyson Fury and Alexander Povetkin.
• Raymond Ford vs. Anthony Cacace: This is the best fight on the card by a mile. These are the only two true talents on the entire card, and that includes the main event mismatch.
• Nick Ball vs. Sam Goodman – co-feature fight. Ball will defend his WBA featherweight title against an unbeaten super bantamweight contender. It’s unclear why a 122-lb fighter is being used rather than someone from the 126-lb division. Goodman is essentially a prospect still, who has yet to face a world-level fighter. He’s 100% unworthy of challenging for a world title.

“Moses Itauma will look to reach contender status as he’s in the process of finalizing a deal to meet Dillian Whyte on Aug. 16 in Riyadh,” said Mike Coppinger on X.

If Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney are any indications of the kind of dough Itauma and the journeyman Whyte could receive, they could get purses as high as $10-20 million.

Itauma Development Concerns 

The choice of Whyte is arguably a downgrade from the weak opposition that the 20-year-old Itauma has been feasting on against Mike Balogun and Demsey McKean. Moses is NOT being developed. He’s being manufactured into an artificial heavyweight to give the appearance of greatness.

In Dillian’s last fight on December 15th against journeyman Ebenezer Tetteh, he looked horrid. Whatever minimal talent that Whyte once had earlier in his career, it’s gone at this late stage of his career.

Using Whyte as Moses Itauma’s opponent will ensure he keeps winning, but offer nothing in terms of developing him. Itauma would be better off returning to amateur development to mature correctly. He turned pro too early after just a brief amateur career, and he’d been fed poor opposition ever since.

Future Heavyweight Opponents for Itauma

To develop Itauma properly to build him up or at least see if he’s any good, he should be fighting these heavyweights in this order:

1. Richard Torrez Jr.
2. Agit Kabayel
3. Filip Hrgovic
4. Bakhodir Jalalov
5. Zhilei Zhang
6. Martin Bakole
7. Efe Ajagba
8. Lenier Pero
9. Frank Sanchez
10. Murat Gassiev