Moses Itauma is seen as the next great boxing heavyweight, and he’s learning from the very best right now.
The young man they call ‘Enriko’ has built an 11-0 pro record on the back of some highlight-reel knockouts – nine of those victories have come inside the first two rounds. He is an incredible talent with devastating power, speed and remarkable ring IQ for one so young.
The 20-year-old may not have faced the very best yet in a real fight, but he absolutely has in sparring sessions. And some of those sessions were against former two-time-heavweight champion Tyson Fury.
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Both men are promoted by Hall of Famer Frank Warren, and Itauma has opened up on what sparring ‘The Gypsy King’ is really like.
Itauma vs Fury, the details
Speaking in an interview with BoxNation (watch the full video at the bottom of this page): “It was, it was very intense. I got there on a Monday. Tyson sparred Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. I got there on the Monday, so obviously I wasn’t gonna spar that Monday – I figured I’d be sparring on Tuesday. Then Tuesday comes around and they say, ‘Nah, you’re not sparring’.
“I said like, ‘Why did you even bring me here if I’m obviously not gonna spar?’
“Then, obviously, they took it to the extreme and made me spar every day. But I mean, I liked it though. I like it because, you know, me and Tyson, we’ve shared, we’ve done some good rounds. I remember on the Thursday, we done some heavy rounds – my body was in bits.
“Anyways, gotta do it all again. On Friday. Then we had a two-day rest, little recovery and stuff, and on Monday we were back at it – six rounds. Tyson goes, ‘Bring the heat, Moses, don’t take it easy on me’. I’m like, ‘Ah, cool’.
“So we have another scrap, another session. And it’s just absolute carnage.”
Passing on the knowledge
Itauma says while he learned so much from being inside a ring with Fury, he has also learned much from being around him outside the ropes.
“I just wanted to add as well, see, see with Tyson, it’s not just the rounds, we had two dinners at his villa where I got to ask so many questions, and even to his manager Spencer [Brown], and, Sugar [Hill Steward] his trainer, and even his nutritionist.
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“I actually didn’t get to speak to his nutritionist, but I usually do do that. I learned so much, especially even with someone like Shane, his brother, who hasn’t been like in the ring himself, but has been around boxing.
“It’s a privilege, Tyson was like talking, I’m like, wait there for a minute, lemme just type it in my phone, and obviously when, when we got in a car and I spoke to me and my brothers, what do you think about this, what do you think about that and XYZ, and it really, really does help with my career.”
When does Itauma fight next?
We now have just a few days until Itauma will be in a professional ring again – his next fight will take place in Glasgow on Saturday May 24.
Moses will face former NFL star Mike Balogun (21-1) on a card topped by Josh Taylor vs Essow Ekuman. The card will be televised live globally by DAZN.
