David Haye says undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk won’t have gained any confidence from having watched Moses Itauma’s performance last Saturday night against veteran Dillian Whyte.
Why Usyk Gained No Confidence
The retired former two-division world champion Haye states that the 20-year-old #1 ranked WBO contender Itauma’s quick first round knockout win over Whyte (31-4, 21 KOs) was too “Clean” of a performance with “No fat” for Usyk to have seen a chink in his armor that he can capitilize on in a fight. It was such a quick KO for Itauma that it made it difficult to spot many flaws in his game.
“He wouldn’t have gotten any confidence from that. He wouldn’t have watched that and thought, ‘If I fight him, I’ll do this,’” said David Haye to Pro Boxing Fans when asked what Oleksandr Usyk would be thinking after watching Moses Itauma’s first-round knockout win over Dillian Whyte last Saturday night in Riyadh.
Usyk would have seen what anyone would have. Whyte, 37, didn’t throw any punches and made it easy for Itauma to hit him at will with shots. There’s only one thing that the undisputed champion Usyk could think about after watching the fight.
A Look at Itauma’s History
It was once again a great job of matchmaking by Itauma’s promoters at Queensberry by selecting Whyte as his opponent. Dillian fit in nicely with this group of recent itauma opponents:
– Mike Balogun: 41
– Mariusz Wach: 45
– Dan Garber
– Mike Boloz
– Demsey McKean
“What can you look at that and think? There’s nothing. You can see it was a clean performance,” Haye said about Itauma’s obliteration of Whyte. “There’s no fat on that performance whatsoever. It was all clean, mean, knockout stuff. That’s what we all want. I’ve been waiting for this heavyweight to emerge.”
Flaws in the Young Contender’s Style
There’s still a lot for Usyk to get from the Itauma-Whyte fight to have confidence in beating him. If that’s the only fight he was studying, he’d have noted that these flaws in Itauma:
- Overly reliant on his left hand: His right is not as dangerous as his left
- Loads up on shots
- Form breaks down when under pressure
- Power diminishes when he’s forced to fight on the move
- Stamina and chin untested: No experience against high-level fighters at the professional or amateur level
“There are a lot of guys that show promise early at the domestic level. Take them out to world class and they start to struggle,” said Haye.
Joshua as a Dangerous Foe
“I think he would beat most people if he is what I think he is, it’s going to be easy work for everybody,” said Haye when asked about whether he’d agree with journalist Gareth A. Davies’ comment that Itauma would knock out Anthony Joshua within three rounds.
One big obstacle preventing a fight between Itauma and Joshua from ever happening is trainer Ben Davison. They’re both trained by him. For the fight to happen, one of them would have to look for a diffferent coach. It would be easier for Joshua because he’s had so many different trainers over the years.
AJ’s last fight under Davison’s guidance was a disaster against Daniel Dubois when he told him to “roll the dice,” wanting him to throw an uppercut going into the fifth round. Joshua followed Davison’s instructions and was promptly knocked out by Dubois.
That said, Joshua would be a dangerous step up in class for Itauma to fight because he has the power to hurt him, and he wouldn’t cover up against the ropes as Dillian Whyte did last Saturday night.
There’s enough video footage of Itauma’s past fights as a professional and amateur to spot the type of opponents that cause him problems. The fights that he’s scored quick knockouts were ones in which his opponents didn’t attack, covered up, and fought with their backs against the ropes.
Last Updated on 08/20/2025
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