Itauma admits getting dropped by one of Joe Joyce' sparring partners in 2021

Some interesting read. It is well known that Itauma has sparred some experienced pros since 15/16, including Lawrence Okolie, Joe Joyce and (somewhat later) Fury and Dubois, and held his own. Kinda like Michael Dokes who has fought/sparred much more experienced guys when he was a teen. Here's Itauma' story from 2024:

In a candid conversation with Sam Matterface, Alex Crook, and Darragh MacAnthony on talkSPORT on Tuesday morning, Itauma admitted to being dropped twice in sparring.
"I have in sparring, twice actually. I'm not ashamed of it. It happens," he said when asked if he had been knocked down before.

"Once when I was 13/14 and once when I was 16. I feel like I needed it, especially the last time I've been put on my ass.

"Yeah, I was getting too big-headed. I was a two-time European gold medallist.

"I was a two-time national champion. I was just like, 'I don't need to train. I'm gonna be this. I'm gonna be that.'

"And then I turned up to sparring. I got put on my arse, and I was like 'Okay, I need to wake up now.'

"I was supposed to spar Joe Joyce and then he never turned up. And the guy I was meant to be sparring, I was looking at him on the pads and I'm like, 'He doesn't look that good.'

"So I was like, 'I'm going to go in and blast him out and then I'll be on my way home.'

"In the first round I got a shock. Then we had a little ding dong and things escalated really quickly."