Moses Itauma outperformed an Olympic gold medallist in his fifth fight with a destructive performance

Moses Itauma will seek to snatch a win over ‘The Bodysnatcher’ Dillian Whyte on August 16th to catapult him onto a seat at the big table of the heavyweight scene.

Moses Itauma has had heaps of praise poured onto him after just 12 fights, and has even been called the next Mike Tyson after a series of brutal stoppages.

Of his 12 fights, just two have gone past the second round, whilst seven of Itauma’s opponents never even made it out of the opening round.

Though most of his early opponents were journeymen or lesser opposition, there was one man whom Itauma shared the ring with that also faced a few other notable names, providing a litmus test as to just how good Itauma is.

Moses Itauma outperformed Olympic gold medallist Tony Yoka with first-round KO

In just his fifth fight, Itauma was matched with 7-8 Amine Boucetta, who, despite his losing record, had only ever lost by stoppage once via a fourth-round TKO.

Itauma did what no man had done before to Boucetta, sending him crashing to the canvas twice, and securing a first-round stoppage win in just 93 seconds.

Boucetta lost six of his next seven fights, with one coming at the hands of Dave Allen, who will face Arslanbek Makhmudov in a make-or-break fight for his career.

Every single one of those losses came on points, and it was only in his 24th fight that he was stopped again, this time by Olympic gold medallist, Tony Yoka.

Yoka faced Boucetta in his first rebuilding fight after a three-fight losing streak. The streak began when Yoka lost to Martin Bakole, and continued with losses to Carlos Takam and Ryad Merhy.

Yoka, who has been tipped as Anthony Joshua’s next opponent, stopped Boucetta in four rounds, before securing two more wins, the latest over 16-0 Arslan Yallyev.

Yoka defeated Filip Hrgovic and Joe Joyce to claim Olympic gold at the 2016 games.

Though he got the win, he came nowhere close to Itauma’s sheer decimation of the durable journeyman.

Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte undercard – The stats

With Whyte vs Itauma getting ever-closer, it is worth taking a look at a few of the fights on the card, with the main three being Itauma vs Whyte, Nick Ball vs Sam Goodman, and Filip Hrgovic vs David Adeleye.

Whilst many are quick to write off Whyte on account of his age, mileage and inactivity, and Adeleye on account of his lack of experience, it is worth noting that Itauma has not yet been pushed or tested, and this fight will reveal how well he can handle adversity.

Hrgovic, too, has not looked great lately, and lost to Zhilei Zhang in the eyes of many, which would mean his best win was really against Joe Joyce. That’s not to discredit Hrgovic, though it is to say Adeleye may have more of a chance than many think.