Moses Itauma looks to continue his electric ascent through professional boxing on December 21.
Still only a teenager, the heavyweight prospect fights Demsey McKean on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Australia’s McKean has only lost once in 23 professional bouts and that defeat came at a good level against Filip Hrgovic.
It will be Itauma’s fourth fight of the year and the young Briton has impressed, most recently blazing through the normally durable Mariusz Wach in just two rounds.
“It was what I had to do all along,” Itauma told Sky Sports. “He’s known for taking guys the distance, but he couldn’t take me the distance.
“The sky’s the limit for me. I’m 19 years old and I do believe I’m the future of the heavyweight division and British boxing in general.”
Itauma wants to close out the year in style and then further solidify his position in the weight class.
“There are very good fights for me to be made,” he said. “It’s nothing personal. I want their rankings. I want to be climbing the rankings and get myself to a world title. Because that’s what I’m in this game for.”
He has already shared the ring with world-class boxers. When he was even younger, just 16 years old, he sparred with Anthony Joshua. More recently both Daniel Dubois, now the IBF champion, and Tyson Fury, a former WBC world titlist, have brought Itauma in for sparring ahead of their fights with Usyk.
“Not just because I’m a southpaw but because I’ve got a bit of ring IQ. I’ve got good movement, I’ve got good footwork similar to Usyk,” he said.
Tyson Fury insists he can’t do any better in his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, but admits he’ll stop his ‘clowning’ in their second bout.
Itauma has learned from them. “Being around Tyson, it’s not just the sparring that I was appreciative of. It’s being around him, he always drops wisdom,” he explained.
He learned the importance of “having a balanced life, balanced between boxing, life, fun”.
If a fighter solely trains all the time, Fury told him, “you’re destined to fail”.
Itauma said: “You do see a lot of people are just so single minded on their work, they kind of lose touch with reality and then start falling off the rails and doing x, y, z. You do need to have a balanced life with work, relationships and fun. I feel like that’s the biggest lesson I took.
“People that paved the way for me, when they talk I definitely listen.”
Watch Usyk vs Fury 2 live on Sky Sports Box Office on Saturday December 21.
Itauma is on a fast track to moving into world level competition himself. He is widely expected, at some point, to win a championship.
“With boxing, when you want it to happen, it doesn’t happen. It happens when you don’t expect it,” he reflected.
But Itauma does expect, fight by fight, to show more and more of what he is capable of. “The level that I’m boxing at and the level that I am at, it’s not the same thing. With these slow little step ups I’ll be able to show people the level that I am at,” he said.
“It’s scary my potential and where I can go.”
Don’t miss Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury II live on Sky Sports Box Office on December 21.
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