Moses Itauma is older than his 20 years might suggest, as smart outside the ring as he is inside it.
This remarkable young fighter has the experts purring as he steamrollers through boxing’s heavyweight division, ever closer to a world title shot.
On Saturday night in Riyadh, the man from Chatham in Kent faces Dillian Whyte in the biggest test of his elite credentials so far (live on DAZN PPV). Whyte remember was good enough to challenge Tyson Fury for the WBC world heavyweight title just three years ago, so this is a true crossroads fight for both men.
Itauma has appeared pretty much perfect inside the ring so far in his short pro career, but he does admit he’s made mistakes outside the ropes.
Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Channel 4, he spoke about his life and his boxing career, looking back and forward.
Moses on ‘silly mistakes’
“I’m not doing boxing to make, like, some money and then leave. That’s not, that’s not what I’m doing it [for]. Like, I’m actually doing it because I need to do it. It’s like, it’s like a drug. Obviously, I’ve got to maximise my career as I’m doing it, and I’ve got a good family, a good team behind me to advise me in the right direction, because I’ve made some silly mistakes.
“I remember when I was like 19, or 18 or 19 years old, and I got my first kind of, like sum of money, and my advisor said: ‘Do you wanna be the young guy with a secure future, or do you wanna be the young, flash guy who’s got nice things?’ I said, ‘Who cares about the future?’ I said, ‘Give me the nice things!’
“And then it came back to bite me, so I was like, okay, cool, like I need to actually set myself up.”
No trash talk for Itauma
Itauma is not a trash talker before fight night arrives – insulting opponents and creating drama is not his way of working. He explained: “Because some people are in boxing for different things. I guess my promoters aren’t gonna be happy about that, but I ain’t really here to kinda sell tickets, or to be like a brash guy.
“I’m genuinely doing it because I’ve done this thing, I’ve done the sport for 11 years. I’m 20 years old, more than half of my life. And when I’m not doing it, I just feel out of place. But it’s not like, ‘okay, cool, I want to be like a Floyd Mayweather or a Conor McGregor or, or whatnot’. Like I’m just genuinely fighting for myself and for my family.”
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