Exciting young southpaw heavyweight prospect. Many are sold on him as the future of the division already; some remains skeptical. He is taking on Dillian "The Body Snatcher" Whyte next in August, which ought to answer lots of lingering questions. He is coming off an early stoppage victory over another guy who markets himself via his middle name, in American fellow lefty Ademola Michael Balogun (known better as "Mike Balogun"). Before that, he dispatched Aussie super heavy southpaw Dempsey McKean - best known for being fed to Filip Hrgović in his previous outing with a very heavily padded 22-0 record - via early stoppage. And before that? Early stoppage over Mariusz Wach - with the always limited Pole nearly a decade removed from his serious contender days and now in his mid forties. Whyte isn't the same animal he was in days of yore, but he isn't as shot as Wach (beating him very comfortably in their h2h meeting in 2019). For the Slovakian-Nigerian-Brit to keep his streak of early stoppages running against the Jamaican-Brit would be a major statement. If, on the other hand, we go into late rounds then we could learn a fair bit about Itauma's gas tank and his ability to withstand sustained hard shots to head and body from a heavy if not destructive puncher. It's going to be twelve rounds, but I haven't seen it reported as being any kind of eliminator. Hate that. Whyte doesn't have any hardware at the moment, and even if this were a defense of the WBO intercontinental title by Itauma, that would be a break with his entire reign to date being scheduled 10-rounders. If he clears this hurdle, what makes sense for a next step up in class? If he loses to a 37 year old Whyte, is the hype train derailed for good or can he get back on track?
Glass jaw? Against who? I'm not disagreeing by the way, I just haven't seen anything from sparring stories or amateur fights to suggest he can't take a decent punch.
I’m not sure if the whyte fight will tell us anything. If Whyte is anything like his recent fights he gets knocked out early. I suppose though that he will be more motivated not to lose to a Green itauma so perhaps he shows up differently in which case it might tell us something. Right know anyone who can feint and throw an uppercut knocks whyte out.
Joe Joyce might actually be a better test as crazy as that sounds as unless itauma one shots him, he’s going to bring the heat every second of the fight.
There's a crazy narrative about Itauma at the moment. Carl Frampton recently said he has better movement than Mike Tyson and the fastest hands at heavyweight since Mike Tyson. He's an excellent prospect but until he dispatches a couple of top 10 names like he did McKean I really don't see how anyone can seriously make these comparisons.
Carl Frampton knows his stuff so his opinion is very valuable. However, he also said that Hamzah Sheeraz is the best prospect in world boxing and that Nick Ball would beat Inoue. This tells me he’s turned into a company man for Queensberry unfortunately.
Yeah Carl isn't on the same level as Johnny Nelson in terms of coming out with nonsense, but to compare Itauma's head movement to Mike Tyson after he's faced nobody in the top 20 is insanity. If he carries on down this route, his opinions are going to lose a lot of weight.
Karol Itouma not only got stopped, he showed a lack of heart as well. More than likely runs in the family. Moses is like AJ. A hypejob waiting to to get exposed. Doubt he will even win a championship, though he might try and fail.
I'm assuming it runs in the family, Karol got obliterated by Maderna and has been risk averse ever since. Also I didn't like the super skittish way he almost overreacted to a marauding Balogun, who let's be honest is gloppy elephant feces in terms of power and skills. Excessively hugging and looking genuinely unnerved. As far as his power, how legit is it? Sure he couldn't stop Kostiantyn Dovbyshchenko 2 years ago, which isn't a big deal, since no one has. But the fact that in 6 he couldn't stop Kevin Nicolas Espindola in 6, when Riakporhe in his Heavyweight debut took him out in 4 and Frazer Clarke did him in 4 as well, 1 fight before Itauma. So while yes, it looks like he might be the real deal, based on the last few performances, but again.... why should we be all that impressed? McKean is seen as durable, but he's also a fellow southpaw, making him a very easy target for Itauma's most devastating punches most southpaws fall when facing a fellow southpaw. 44 year old Wach looked like a gelatinous melting Ringlefinch, and was a few years removed from being battered senseless and stopped by another hypejob in Makhmudov. Win means nothing, but even then Wach took plenty of flush shots in the first round. Mezencev was massacred in similar fashion a decade ago by that girlfriend beater Tom Schwarz, the guy is a total scrub, not close to an impressive win. So yes, he's fast, has decent foot work and has solid reflexes, has a sharp mouse trap like right hook and a fast straight left. But he realistically hasn't been put in the ring with anyone who poses even a slightest challenge to him, certainly no one who is a legitimate threat that isn't shot to grim death or a total bum. So what happens when he gets in the ring with someone who he can't take out in 2 rounds? Will he still be just as fast in the 6th, if someone forces him into a fight and he starts expending energy? I have a sneaking suspicion that his power doesn't last long, after all, he was teeing off at will and landing flush on both Dovbyshchenko and Espindola well into the 5h and 6th, and neither of them looked close to going down. So yeah, I think when he gets tired, he has a tendency to drop his hands, stand directly in front of his opponents, chin up in the air, begging for a counter right hook. The first opponent that's durable with good timing will exploit that viciously. This content is protected This content is protected
I think Itauma's power comes from his speed and his timing, which have improved dramatically over the last 12 to 18 months. I think this is to be expected, as many of the points you made are from his early professional days, when he was 18, still learning in fights, and getting rounds in. Putting him in with a live, legitimate threat in his first 10 fights seems counterproductive. David Haye got blown away by Thompson due to moving too quickly up the levels, so I don't think Frank wants to make the same mistake with Moses. I don't think Whyte is that bad of a matchup for where he's in his career - the defensive frailties seem to have been ironed out. While I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't go all the way, if I had to bet on it now, years out, I would say that he has all the tools to win a version of the HW title at least, especially in the post Usyk era where the competition looks dangerously thin. There's a long way to go I suppose.
