Whyte is in great physical shape, is an upset possible?

An upset is definitely possible, going beyond Itauma not having his chin tested and Whyte having KO power with power being the last thing to go.

I saw a recent interview with Itauma where he said he is not going to lose or be KO'd because he believes it. Just a little bit of a red flag imo.

I can't help but feel that Itauma is being set up for a Ben Davison special, where his fighters have all the confidence in the world, but as soon as an opponent goes off script, the script being the plan that Davison has put in his fighters mind, they don't know what to do.

The biggest example of this is of course Dubois vs Joshua, but there are so many fighters of Davison who have had the same scenario play out.

So even if Itauma gets through this unscathed, he is being set up for a bad loss.

 

Looking at Whyte, he does look a bit leaner than usual. If his power and speed are truly gone, then I expect him to try and old man Itauma.

Get him to blow his load early and drag the fight into the later rounds where Itauma hasn't been before and where the more experienced and leaner Whyte will still have stamina.

 

If he's anywhere near his best, it's a huge, huge step up for Itauma.

The Whyte that lost to Pov, for instance, probably stops most of the division - and gives Itauma a humbling ala Joyce-Dubois.

But being in shape doesn't guarantee performance... we'll see!

 

It's probably just lead up to getting brutally knocked out in the first round by an uppercut.

 

Ituama’s money punch is that big looping overhand left. Don’t recall him throwing a lot of uppercuts? (But yes I know Whyte’s history)

 

History tells us that recent form - rather than how a fighter looks physically - is the best indicator of what sort of performance to expect. That being the case I still expect an Itauma win.

 

He is in good shape yes but his body mechanics are still terrible, especially when backing up

He constantly crosses his feet and also squares up so walks into uppercuts. He is good on the front foot though because he can throw in volume and has a ramrod jab