LONDON, England —
Moses Itauma is just a day away from his much-anticipated maiden main event, headlining a
DAZN PPV show against former world title challenger
Dillian Whyte.
His manager, Francis Warren, is said to have told the 20-year-old to
prepare mentally for the aftereffects that another highlight-reel showing will garner in the Saudi Arabian capital against a big domestic name with little to lose. It's only upwards from here.
As the undisputed heavyweight titles
Oleksandr Usyk owns are likely to fragment again soon, Itauma remains in prime position to pounce on an unprecedented opportunity. Few believed it true when he openly targeted beating Mike Tyson's record as youngest divisional world champion, and while the dominos didn't fall as planned, second-fastest isn't a bad consolation achievement. No rush.
He's by no means there yet, though it speaks volumes of the long-lasting impression already made on his contemporaries that many of them speak so highly of him without being prompted.
To further contextualise this rise: the only standout performer in Itauma's age-range is Uzbek cruiserweight Turabek Khabibullaev. He's won 45 of his 50 amateur bouts per BoxRec, but still campaigned at middleweight when outpointing Daulet Tulemissov in their 2022 IBA World Championships Final.
Itauma stopped Oleksandr Zelenskyi with 10 seconds left in their super-heavyweight final that same day in Alicante, Spain, and the next weekend watched Tyson Fury-Derek Chisora 3 ringside before his signing was announced.
The next youngest top-15 heavyweight contender across all four sanctioning bodies? WBA's No. 13-ranked Dainier Pero (11-0, 9 KOs), who debuted a month earlier than Itauma and was among The Ring's 2024 shortlist for
Prospect of the Year (Itauma won). The Cuban, 26 in October, recovered from two knockdowns to outpoint Cesar Navarro in May.
Two-division world champion
Lawrence Okolie, stablemate and WBA interim titleholder
Fabio Wardley and two-time titlist
Tyson Fury are just three names who've reserved praise for the Chatham southpaw. Yet, being cynical, all three are aligned with the same promoter in Frank Warren and the British bias is real, especially with regards to heaping expectation on talented fighters.
It's rare to hear someone outside the British bubble speak with such enthusiasm and excitement for a divisional counterpart that is six years his junior, boxed far less as an amateur and yet, 2024 Olympic bronze medallist Nelvie Tiafack doesn't sugarcoated his feelings.
"Moses is a well-rounded fighter, the power, movement, the IQ, everything. The things I saw back then, I'm thinking wow ... so when I consider everything, he's the real deal," he tells
The Ring.
"He came to Germany before everything blew up for him, I invited him for my last spar before the Olympics [last summer], he contacted me before that, came with his brothers on three different occasions."
Tiafack, who made his professional debut an hour before
Usyk's fifth-round stoppage win over Dubois last month, is headed back to Cologne, Germany, after spending another week with Team Itauma preparing for this sink-or-swim moment.
The week before, he was training while on holiday in the Albanian city of Sarandë so when the phone rang asking if he wanted some work on British shores, the newly minted pro was ready to step into the breach.
The 26-year-old, who logged almost a decade-long extensive amateur background, boxed a series of notable names — Justis Huni, Richard Torrez Jr, Jared Anderson, Frazer Clarke and most recently fell short against eventual champion Bakhodir Jalolov in their Parisian semifinal last summer.
He sparred Itauma's gymmate
Anthony Joshua before the two-time unified champion's 2023 return against Jermaine Franklin. But having shared dozens of rounds together, he's unequivocal about what makes this British prospect so special.
"It's always great work, he's a great guy and deserves everything he's getting. Moves like a light heavyweight and I want to bring that to my game when fit, just hoping I can get on big shows pretty fast, get a great [promotional] deal to put on performances.
"If someone kicked my ass, I'd say. His pace and how young he is, he's only going to keep improving. He told Queensberry to sign me on the back of those spars."
Tiafack was proudly being championed by highly respected trainer Joe Gallagher at the Magnificent Seven press conference in November, with all noises suggesting the pair would work together and he'd join Warren's ever-growing heavyweight crop.
The Cameroon-born heavy received assurances this would be the case and was told to train with April 5 — their first DAZN date — in mind, to debut on an aptly-named "Heavy Duty" card in Manchester.
Instead, the since-retired Delicious Orie debuted on that busy 12-fight bill while Queensberry are understood to have since agreed a deal to sign former world kickboxing champion Donegi Abena.
Frustration subsided and motivated to make up for lost time, Tiafack refuses to dwell and instead wants activity. Having released the "controlled anger" from an 11-month layoff by stopping Poland's overmatched Jakub Sosinski in two rounds, the ambitious free agent awaits news and sparring across Europe is a good way to stay busy until then.
What has he learned most since transitioning from the unpaid ranks?
"Torrez was the strongest fighter I faced in the amateurs, he was fast on his feet and had loads of energy, but I'm not sure if he can do it over 12 rounds now."
Top Rank-backed Torrez has since outlined movement as an area for improvement since outpointing Guido Vianello — another Tiafack sparring partner — during their 10-round main event on April 5.
He recently spoke about an eagerness to "pond hop" and test his skills against highly ranked contenders Itauma and Wardley in an ever-changing divisional landscape. This time last year, a Wardley-Clarke 2 announcement was imminent alongside Wardley's Queensberry deal, while Itauma was weeks removed from a second-round blowout of one-time title challenger Mariusz Wach.
"The pros are all about fitness, going those rounds and being able to outmanoeuvre your opponents —
the only person who does it properly is Usyk. Once you strip things apart like that, everyone is beatable — whether you're better technically or not. Huni was toying with Wardley and then got caught. That happens."
Itauma's composure has proven devastating, though quick hands and feet create opportunities that opponents haven't managed to escape fast enough. Whether that translates among the very elite, capable of absorbing or stifling his best before firing back, remains to be seen.
Yet there's no guessing who Tiafack is backing to win Saturday.