Fans overwhelmingly are negative about Moses Itauma’s fight against the faded journeyman Dillian Whyte (31-3, 21 KOs), viewing him as a sacrificial lamb being brought in to make Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs) look like the second coming of Mike Tyson on August 16th in Riyadh.
Building Greatness on Fluff
Not surprisingly, people don’t like the idea of Itauma’s bum of the month club being shown on DAZN PPV for $49.99. He hasn’t done enough to be on pay-per-view. If he wins this fight, he still won’t be worth watching on PPV behind a paywall.
Despite the phony hype surrounding his career, he’s still a prospect who has fought no live bodies yet. The last decent opponent Itauma fought was in the amateurs three years ago when he fought Stylianos Roulias in 2022. He looked atrocious in that fight. Itauma looked like a wolf was chasing him for three rounds. It was an eye-opener for fans, giving him a glimpse of Moses’ mindset when dealing with pressure.
The fight is a mismatch with Whyte being brought in to serve as an opponent, the much younger, faster Moses to roll over. Itauma is a heavy favorite to obliterate what’s left of Dillian and look outstanding in victory.
It’s marketing of a product, similar to what we saw with Hamzah Sheeraz, who has been matched against the same type of tomato cans throughout his career, except for his fight against Carlos Adames.
Itauma: The Road to Exposure
Richard Torrez Jr.
Lenier Pero
Bakhodir Jalalov
Filip Hrgovic
Daniel Dubois
Agit Kabayel
Martin Bakole
Why isn’t Itauma being matched against these types of heavyweights? Is it asking too much for his promoter to put him in with Jalalov or Kabayel next, or would that ruin things by putting a spotlight on what his true talent is?
It’s not about Itauma being improved as a heavyweight. Fans view this as creating a pseudo mystique of greatness built on the back of fluff opposition. It’s kind of like what we saw with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. If you look closely at their career resumes, there’s nothing there that resembles quality opposition.
When they finally faced their first opponent, Oleksander Usyk, they were exposed and lost repeatedly. We’re seeing the same formula being used with Itauma, but against even worse opposition.
Whyte is well past his best years from 2016 to 2019. His recent fights against Ebenezer Tetteh, Jermaine Franklin, and Tyson Fury were awful to watch. He looked feeble, old, and not world-class.
Itauma’s Short Career Signs
It’s questionable how long Itauma’s career will last. He’s old-looking for 20, and he’s already looking flabby for a person as young as him. Fighters don’t start looking blubbery until they’re in their 30s, but Itauma is already showing signs of a paunch. When you see that happening this early, it’s a sign that the fighter will have a short career.