Moses Itauma steps back into the ring this weekend with his biggest challenge yet.
The 20-year-old Chatham heavyweight has encountered few issues on the way to a 12-0 professional record but fight fans have wanted to see him seriously tested. Dillian Whyte should provide that challenge.
Itauma comes up against Whyte in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday night, live on DAZN.
Ahead of the fight, speaking to DAZN Boxing, a focused Itauma said: “With Dillian Whyte it’s about trying to execute the game-plan, as usual. It’s step by step, fight by fight.
“If I was asked what my plan is in this division, it would be to knock Dillian Whyte out.”
Itauma has worked with trainer Ben Davison on his previous four fights and says the coach got him fired back up for the sport.
“Traning with Ben has been crazy,” he said.
“When I first joined the gym he kept telling me that deep down you love boxing. At that point in time I felt like I hated boxing but I feel like he lit the fire back up.
“He showed me more to boxing than just throwing one-twos, punch, punch, get punched. There’s like a whole chess game to boxing.”
Davison hopes to see Itauma reach his potential and feels the young man has all the tools, saying: “You want someone that is hard working and enjoys what they do, resilience, mental and physical, those are the main things, we believe he has all of those skills.”
Itauma’s made a huge impact since turning pro but has barely been troubled, winning 10 of those 12 fights inside the distance. He currently holds the WBO inter-continental title.
His last fight was in May, seeing off Mike Balogun in two rounds.
Whyte (31-3) fought and lost to Tyson Fury for a world title in 2022 after beating the likes of Derek Chisora and Joseph Parker to earn his shot at the WBC crown.
A decade ago he was in the ring with Anthony Joshua and at 37 may no longer be in his prime but the experienced opponent should give Itauma something to think about.
