Moses Itauma’s trainer Ben Davison described, on the eve of his most exciting fighter’s contest with Dillian Whyte, the prospect of him fighting the great Oleksandr Usyk as a “win-win”.
The 20-year-old Itauma on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia enters his highest-profile fight against the former world-title challenger Whyte and, in many respects strangely, is being spoken about in the same breath as the undisputed champion Usyk as though only Whyte stands in their way.
Itauma represents the world’s most exciting heavyweight prospect but in addition to his youth he has only 12 fights. He regardless is rightly the favourite against the 37-year-old Whyte – a 34-fight proven veteran – but Usyk, 38 and after 24 victories, is yet to demonstrate signs of decline.
There is also the reality that Joseph Parker has been installed as Usyk’s mandatory challenger and the likelihood of the Ukrainian retiring before Itauma is sufficiently developed to test a heavyweight increasingly spoken of as the greatest to ever live.
At Wednesday’s unremarkable open workouts there was an appealing fight to sell, however, and the broadcasters DAZN – leaning on Davison – sought from him an answer to a question about a fight far from likely to ever take place.
“There is not a fight where I would go, ‘Oh, I don’t like that’,” Davison remarked of Itauma’s potential before he was, on reflection inevitably, asked about the very best in the world.
“I just think it’s a win-win,” the trainer then responded. “You’re getting a chance to face the best of a generation if not the best ever at the weight class. It’s a win-win. As much as Moses hasn’t shared the ring with somebody like Usyk, I truly, honestly don’t think Usyk has shared the ring with someone like Moses.”
Davison, in that moment, it was tempting to conclude had forgotten he previously trained Tyson Fury, twice Usyk’s toughest opponent. It was similarly tempting to question whether he had also forgotten that Anthony Joshua, also twice Usyk’s opponent and someone he has spoken of wanting to see fight Usyk for a third time, remains the highest-profile figure in his gym.
For his part Whyte, who looked to have declined significantly when in December stopping Ebenezer Tetteh, gave so little away that even those working on behalf of DAZN couldn’t justify talking up his contributions in the ring.
Itauma, similarly, showed and said very little, but in his increasingly familiarly courteous way and perhaps exactly like a young fighter being groomed for greatness, he appeared with an ambassadorial air and paid respect to the Saudi Arabians positioned nearby.
“We’d be foolish to be taking the fight based off his last performance [against Tetteh] and in coming in in the same shape – it was never gonna happen,” Davison continued. “As he said, he’s had lots of things going on; lots of inactivity; but he’s clearly got himself in shape and I’ve said this time and time again, Moses Itauma is not the type of fighter where we have to bank on getting people at the right time. He’s good enough to mix with any of them at any point, and we’ve prepared for Dillian to turn up as the best Dillian possible.
“The same situation; all the same things we’ve been talking about. It’s his experience; he’s a big, strong guy; plenty of heart; can punch; he brings all of those things to the table, and that doesn’t change no matter what condition he turns up in. People keep talking about if it goes into a dogfight – I’ve seen Moses. That lad can fight up close as well, and you’ve got to have that in the locker. If you’re gonna mix at this level you’ve got to have that in the locker and he’s got that.
“There’s nobody I think, ‘He’s not ready for him’, but it’s risk versus reward. That fight might be just as tough as that fight but that fight’s got more reward to it. There’s that. One thing I want to say about Moses – people say ‘Talent, talent, talent’ – it’s a lot of hard work to get there. He is one of the hardest workers that you’ll come across in the gym; outside the gym; studying the sport; making sure that he’s remembering what he’s learning session after session. That’s the real talent.
“He was chief support for one of the biggest cards of this generation, Usyk-Fury. That might have been just as much pressure as is here now – that was a huge card in his first real step up. You know when you say someone’s a natural fighter – it’s water off a duck’s back to him. I thought that when he was chief support for that card, and I feel that this week as well.
“Once we got the chance to work with him and saw how hungry he was; how desperate he was to improve and be the best he can be, and his ability to retain the information... He’s a real special, special talent.
“It’s my job to have him prepared for if the fight goes that way [and becomes rough]. You don’t want it to go this way but you need to be prepared for things to go not exactly to plan, and I’ve brought guys in and put him in situations – it’s okay being a great boxer, but you need to have that in the locker as well, and he’s got that.
“Dillian was one of the names on the list that we said we’re up for, and it just so happened that it ended up coming about. It’s a great step up for him; it’s a great scalp for him; it’s a great test for him, and one we’re confident that he’s able to come through.
“He’s strong. People underestimate – I know he’s 20 but he’s not a kid. Far from it. His ability to process is second to none, which is extremely rare. Which at any weight is an asset to have but at heavyweight it’s exceptional. There’s never a session where he won’t try to do [what you ask him for] and that’s all you can ever ask.”
