Moses Itauma vs. Filip Hrgović & Sam Noakes vs. Denys Berinchyk + Nelson Hysa vs. Thomas Narmo RBR.

Just back from the forum seg for some ricidulous ban - the communist admins strike again.

I felt Ben Dover should’ve had his license revoked after Wardley DDD, at least at heavyweight. Saturday cemented that further.

Once Itauma actually gets in the gym with a competent trainer sparring 12-15 rounds and becomes a more complete fighter, I have no doubt he will fulfill his destiny.

 

He is the absolute worst person to be listening to in this scenario. This is a guy who claims he doesn't spar and is openly dismissive of his coaches in public. It's not advice, it's ego and arrogance. If he'd actually taken some advice and dedicated himself he mightn't have been a glorified charlatan himself.

 

That’s kind of the point though mate. Eubank might be the worst messenger possible, but it doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

Like his old man, he’s always had that ****-you mindset to speak out, even if they both often contradict themselves with their own actions. Whatever you think of how he managed his career, trained himself for most of it and traded off the name, he’s still got a lot of experience in the game.

Don’t get me wrong, Davison is a good trainer, but we’ve seen when it gets to deep water he panics. He almost threw the towel in when Fury was down against Wilder, and only Roach prevented that. Then he was umming and ahhing with Moses and the towel at the end, and didn’t seem to notice he was already beyond exhausted between rounds 8-9.

If anything, who better to spot a glorified charlatan, which is how they’ve all been labelled in the past, than another one? Boxercise Ben has been getting away with the Jay Shetty routine in boxing for years, much like Eubank.

 

Not to dismiss the other points but fundamentally don’t agree with “if he doesn’t fix the gas tank, then he’s in big trouble” point.

To me, that wasn’t a gas tank issue. It was a pacing and experience issue. Could he be better prepared for 12 rounds - of course. He fought 8 rounds at a ferocious pace, and threw more power punches in that period that many top heavyweights would in a 12 round bout - just check the punch stats. I actually thought given the variables, his gas tank was more than acceptable.

We’ve seen more seasoned and older heavyweights - like Joshua, Wlad, David Price etc, be far more tired far earlier in fights. They had to go away and fix those issues - which they did to differing degrees.

I personally don’t think an opponent who has never been stopped having fought at top level for 15 years was the right ‘step up’ for Itauma.

However, when he entered deep waters there was a lack of understanding on how he should navigate the situation when it became clear Hrgovic was not budging - they failed to adapt.

I also think that Itauma has the body type which suggests he will handle 12 rounds ok. He’s not overly muscled. I accept though - thats an assumption.

But stamina is not an issue for me. Seasoning and experience (jumping from basically no rounds to championship rounds issue huge). How he handles the setback is the biggest obstacle because when Usyk goes there is no one that I can see can handle what he was got.

 

The whole thing just seems like arrogance/entitlement.

Saw on the Rob Tebutt pod them saying Ben Davidson seems to kop more stick than others.

I think the arrogance & entitlement is a theme of a lot of his fighters. They seem to think they are the first gym to ever watch opponents previous fights.

I think they are the epitomony of a little bit of knowledge is dangerous.

He was outstanding with Tyson, he made him fall back in love with training and boxing again. That absolutely cannot be taken away from him in my view.

Making a brilliant boxer get back into the sport isnt the same as building young fighters into great ones.

I find it astonishing so many good fighters go there

 

The reality of it is, Itauma is such a big talent I could have probably trained him to win ever fight prior to the weekend.

The game plan to beat Dillian "walk forward and punch him in the head lad"