Britain stands right at the top of the heavyweight boxing mountain right now, and thanks to Moses Itauma it may stay like that for a long time.
Currently Tyson Fury (34-0-1) is the WBC and lineal world champion, while two-time king Anthony Joshua (28-3) is back and again knocking at the door for a title shot in the coming months.
But with Fury now aged 35, and Joshua just a year younger at 34, with every passing day comes the reality that these two behemoths of the sport will not be around for ever. Thankfully, there is a new wonderkid on the block ready to take for the passing of the torch.
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The freakishly talented Itouma is still only 19 years of age, but already has raced to an 8-0 professional record in just over a year since turning over to the paid ranks. His latest supershow was a first-round knockout of Dan Garber last Friday on a TNT Sports-televised show in London.
To say Itauma has fight fans excited would be the understatement of the century. His Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren (who also handles ‘The Gypsy King’ of course) has already described him as the “next big thing” in the sport’s marquee weight class.
Moses has a stated ambition to become the youngest ever world heavyweight champion, beating the record of a certain Mike Tyson – he was just 20 when he destroyed Trevor Berbick back in 1986. He is in no mood to hang around, and has already sparred both Fury and Joshua.
Itauma on Fury and Joshua
So what are his recollections of those sessions, and what does he think about both fighters? He told talkSPORT in a recent interview.
He was asked if Fury hits the harder of the two, and responded: “No, but he’s so unique. Joshua hit me very hard. I sparred him [Joshua] when I was 16. I only did a couple of rounds, but that was enough.”
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But while he admits Fury may not be the biggest puncher in the division, Itauma has no doubt about who he sees as the top heavyweight around right now.
“He [Fury] gave me loads of advice. Currently, I think he is No.1. There are so many factors people don’t take into account.”
Itauma – ‘I haven’t wobbled’ in sparring
Itauma also revealed how he coped with sparring two greats of the sport at such a tender age, and how things work when top boxers spar.
He said: “I haven’t wobbled. We’re big guys. All of us have the capability to knock each other out and it only takes one shot.
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“Let’s say, I go in there and I knock someone out in sparring, they can’t spar for six weeks and I’m going to struggle to get a sparring partner.
“You don’t really learn from knocking people out in sparring. If I go in there, he’s just tapping and I’m trying to knock him out, I’ll look like a… you know.:
