Moses Itauma is fast gaining plenty of important ring experience, but has also sparred some of the top fighters out there as part of his journey.
Itauma is just 20-years-old but has already been tipped as a future heavyweight world champion by two men who would know – former champion Tyson Fury, and current undisputed heavyweight ruler Oleksandr Usyk.
He has a record of 11 KO wins from 13 fights, with nine of them coming inside the first two rounds and his most recent victory against Dillian Whyte was another KO, this time inside two minutes.
One man who knows what it is like to share the ring with Itauma is former cruiserweight and bridgerweight Lawrence Okolie, with the duo having sparred together before.
Speaking to iFL TV, Okolie was asked about that past sparring, discussing what it was like to stand opposite a then 15-year-old Itauama.
“It was a good spar. I was quite shocked about how good he was. I think if he was like a 25-year-old and those spars were how they were, it would be like ‘oh wow, he’s a good boxer.’ But because he’s 15, it’s like, bizarre, seeing someone at that age able to do what he was able to do.
“They were really good spars. I was super sharp for my fight, Moses is super sharp and explosive, so it helped me tune up for my world title fights.”
Although Itauma has said he is ready to now fight Usyk, his team has decided to continue building him, though they have reportedly had trouble finding the impressive young fighter an opponent for his ring return in December, with Filip Hrgovic and Daniel Dubois both ruling themselves out for different reasons.
