Who should Moses fight should he return?

Big baby Miller

 

The Towler worries about his hair too much

Abel >>>>>>>>>> The Towler

This content is protected

 

I’d assume Ituama’s speed would be too much, but man, Bakole’s offense makes him a danger, especially against someone relatively inexperienced.

 

Bosh fisher

He absolutely shouldn't come back at a level near Hrgovic and he should be tucked down on an undercard as befits a fighter of his position.

 

Durable but not dangerous will be the brief.

 

Wouldn't mind seeing him get sparked out again.

 

We really dont know where Bakole is. If he's overweight again, Itauma could get him out early like punchlet Parker did. But we also dont know how good Itauma's chin is, so Bakole could clean Itauma out in similar fashion to how he did Anderson.

 

As usual you've got it nailed to a T. Joyce/Knyba are good choices of opponent.

Wilder would be an interesting one as well, but for different reasons...

 

If Parker can KO Bakole in 2 I'd expect Itauma to manage it. A good opponent though Serge, and always a chance of an upset, love your thinking.

 

Hmm, in development terms I agree.

But... A loss is a big thing, especially a first loss - it's only natural for a fighter to need to rebuild a little bit, especially when flaws have been exposed.

I don't think stepping up from Hrgovic after that loss is the right move... I'd take a sensible step slightly back, or sideways where styles suit, before trying to march on.

 

At the same time...

Some guys just can't be a complete fighter - there are certainly things he can improve, but going to an extent that lessens the explosiveness and killer instinct could blunt what he's actually good at...
The aggressive instinct, the unpredictability - these are his strengths - does telling him to be more careful to conserve energy fight against that? Quite possibly.

And having gears to go through is great... But not every fighter is good at doing so even when they've got decent skills and decent power.

A guy like Usyk is exceptional because he's got the skills, he's got the stamina and he can instinctively and intellectually read a fight and go through the gears at calculated rates for maximum effect.

Then you have guys like AJ, for example, who have decent skills and can fight in different ways... But just don't/didn't go through the gears naturally or particularly well, at times.

Then you have simpler guys again who have one basic way they can be effective, aren't good at learning and/or refuse to do so and basically only ever fight one way - which can be effective up to a point, but these fighters WILL have kryptonite opponents... Wilder or Zhang, for example, generally don't beat guys they can't knock out.

Does anything say Moses has to be in the Usyk or even Joshua camps? Or might he be one of those fighters who can only really fight one way and look really effective, whilst being eminently beatable if you're durable enough?


It's easy to think "to be the perfect fighter, this guy needs to develop xyz" - but most can't, otherwise they'd all be complete fighters.

So... What does it look like makes Itauma the most effective version of himself?
Does being an instinctive KO artist who will lose to granite chins prevent him from having a good career?
Does trying to slow him down a bit and make him think more instead of reacting on instinct reduce that or improve it?

Interesting to think about... I start from an assumption that almost nobody can be generationally special, and those that are will prove it before getting the credit - I guess we'll see what direction they decide to go with him.

 

It's pretty obvious to me that he should adopt a sniper style similar to David Haye, move around a lot and just throw 20 full power shots a round.

Haye spoke about how he adapted after gassing vs Thompson, come forward at the first bell and throw his hardest possible punch, even if it just lands on the guard to put the opponent off being wreckless and take it from there.

 

Yeah good points - my thrust was more that he has shown that he hit a roadblock with being stamina limited currently. So proving to himself and others that he can fight 12 rounds and win is a good first step there. But if as you say Moses cannot fight disciplined behind a jab in a looser fashion to control a fight because he loses his explosivess and twitchiness and all the things that made him look so good, then he and his team have a real dillemma to solve!