I remember pretty well on this forum that most people actually had Bakole beating Anderson even though Anderson had an slightly better record than Itauma's. (Really not saying Anderson's record was any good! But it was a little bit better than Itauma's at least). I'm just trying to understand why so many people had Bakole over Anderson then, and they were right! But literally nobody has Whyte beating Itauma? Whyte had beaten much better opposition than Bakole did before he faced Anderson, and Anderson had beaten better fighters than Itauma did. Will get even further grilled for this but I even favoured Anderson against Bakole then. One of the reasons why these days I never back a fighter especially a potential hype job until they have actually proven so.
Its because Whyte has just looked so washed. Idk if its because he is on less drugs than he was before, or if he just got old but he looks like he has lost everything that made him competitive. Plus he has gaps in his style and game that Itauma will be able to take advantage off, especially since Whyte doesn't have the physicality to cover for them anymore.
Bakole was in his prime against Anderson, although he may have declined since then because of overeating. Whyte is faded and hasn't had a good win in years.
If this was the Whyte which ko'd Chizza 7 years ago then he'd be favourite. But that was 7 long years ago. Whyte is totally shot to tiny little smithereens. No decent ko's since, cracked chin, very slooooow and technically never been very good. Itauma is going to iron him out.
Whyte looked so awful against both Hammer and Tethez, both of whom he would likely hurt much more if he was the man who was duking it our with the likes of Parker and much fresher Chisora.
Bakole would murder Whyte, Whyte has a glass chin and Itauma is clearly more skilled than Anderson with even more speed
Bakole was literally a hype job who was incredibly lucky to scrape a draw against another hype job gatekeeper in Ajagba.
Eye test, and knowledge of what these fighters are capable of behind the scenes (sparring reputations). Bakoles size and eye test had him beating anderson. On top of that he had a reputation of being a high level and dangerous fighter in sparring at that time. None of this applies to whytes fight.