Moses Itauma was said to be the man to beat Mike Tyson’s awe-inspiring record, but this cannot happen now as time has run out.
Moses Itauma has yet to taste defeat as an amateur or as a pro, and is coming off a brutal one-round KO over Demsey ‘The Tower’ McKean.
Itauma was touted to be the man to beat Mike Tyson‘s record for becoming the youngest heavyweight world champion. Tyson became champion when he was just 20 years and 4 months old.
With Itauma’s birthday being 28 December, his time has run out.
Moses Itauma is ready to face Martin Bakole or Filip Hrgovic next, Frank Warren says
Itauma may have missed his shot to beat Tyson and make his mark on history, but there are plenty of opportunities to come.
Itauma, who blitzed Mariusz Wach, was likely never going to break the record, as the top-level champions have nothing to gain from facing him, and the only other option is Kubrat Pulev, who holds the WBA Regular belt.
Pulev was in talks to face Fabio Wardley, but apparently priced himself out, so Itauma was never likely to get that fight either.
Frank Warren said in an interview that if Itauma wins his next fight, he may face Martin Bakole or Filip Hrgovic at the end of this year.
He said: “Billy Nelson [Martin Bakole’s trainer] sent me a text saying they’d like to do the fight at the end of the year.”
He added that many of the top heavyweights are with Queensberry, so fights such as Itauma vs Hrgovic are easy to make.
Hrgovic beat Joe Joyce in his most recent outing, whilst an out-of-shape Bakole fought to a draw with Efe Ajagba.
Moses Itauma’s next opponent was blitzed by a cruiserweight
Itauma will return to the ring on Saturday on the undercard of Josh Taylor vs Ekow Essuman.
Taylor is hoping to get his career back on track after two, arguably three, consecutive losses.
Taylor lost to Jack Catterall most recently in a rematch of their controversial first encounter, and to Teofimo Lopez before that. Essuman hopes to prove he is world level with a win over Taylor.
Itauma will face Mike Balogun, a 21-1 fighter with just one win in the last three years.
Balogun, a former NFL player, beat Lamont Capers, an 11-20 journeyman, in his return to the ring over one year after being stopped in two rounds by Murat Gassiev, a former cruiserweight.