Moses Itauma has people wondering whether he’ll break Mike Tyson’s record of becoming the youngest heavyweight world champion. The fringe contender Itauma (11-0, 9 KOs) recently turned 20 on December 28th, meaning he’s got four months to break Tyson’s record.
Itauma stopped 34-year-old Dempsey McKean (22-2, 14 KOs) in the second round on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk 2 in Riyadh. The event was shown on DAZN PPV.
Chasing Tyson
Tyson was 20 years and four months old when he knocked out WBC heavyweight champion Trevor Berbick in the second round on November 22, 1986. That was ‘Iron’ Mike’s 28th professional fight, and he’s been facing better opposition than Itauma. That’s one big difference.
The only semi-notable opponents Itauma has faced are 45-year-old Mariuz Wach and Demsey McKean. Before his match against Itauma, Wach had lost eight out of his previous 12 fights. McKean had been inactive for 16 months and was coming off a 12-hour-round knockout defeat against Filip Hrgovic.
Itauma has been matched VERY carefully, just like his brother, Karol Itauma, before he was ultimately knocked out when he was matched against a decent opponent.
Promoter Frank Warren said he wants Itauma to win a portion of one of the heavyweight titles in 2025. He’ll either go after WBA ‘regular’ champion Kubrat Pulev or an interim belt. Joseph Parker holds the WBO interim title. However, Warren is unlikely to put Itauma in with him this year because of the high probability of his losing.
Even 43-year-old Pulev might be too much for Itauma because the Bulgarian still has very impressive technical skills that can’t be prepared for in one camp.
The Brother’s Shadow
Itauma is a good basic slugger, but he has zero experience against anything remotely resembling a first-tier-level fighter. If he gets thrown with a shark-like Parker or Oleksandr Usyk, he’ll get outboxed and likely knocked out, just like his brother, Karol Itauma, was when he was matched against 2008 Olympian Ezequiel Maderna in 2023.
Before that fight, everyone was raving about Karol, but he was completely out of his depth when put in with Maderna. Nowadays, you never hear about Karol anymore. The same could happen to Moses Itauma if he’s put in with a good heavyweight.
“That’s a fair analogy,” said promoter Frank Warren to BoxNation when told by the interviewer that he hadn’t seen anyone like Moses Itauma since Mike Tyson first started his career. “I fancied him to win the fight [Demsey McKean], but I thought he was going to get some rounds like in the previous fight [45-year-old Mariusz Wach].
“The power is unbelievable, and how relaxed he is when throwing his punches. He’s got a great jab, got a good boxing brain, and he done a job in a big way [knocking out McKean in round one]. Although the fights didn’t last that long, he looked the more composed out of all of them.
“He’s got a very good head on his shoulders and a great team around him. He can fight. There’s no doubt about that. He literally could do whatever he wants to do,” said Warren when asked what Moses Itauma can do in 2025.
Let’s put things in perspective a little bit. McKean had been out of the ring for 16 months and was coming off a knockout loss to Hrgovic. Before that, McKean had never beaten anyone notable during his 10-year career. All of his wins have come against non-world-class opponents.
“No, I don’t want to throw him, especially with a young fighter, throwing them in the deep end. I believe whoever he fights, whoever it is, and the level they are, he gives them a massive problem,” said Warren.
“I want to see him win a version of the [heavyweight] title, and I want to see a big domestic bust-up down the road, maybe between Daniel [Dubois] and him and whoever is standing. Yeah, all those guys. All those fights are there to be made. It’s so exciting.
“The combinations of different fights that can be made. It’s just bloody brilliant,” said Warren about potential fights that could be made involving Itauma.
Will Moses Itauma be a World Champion by the end of 2025? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/oN0zasEkIj
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) January 3, 2025
Read the full article here