Moses Itauma is a different type of heavyweight.
The 19-year-old is a prodigiously talented fighter but for a youngster with the world at his feet, he seems remarkably relaxed about the attention he is generating.
It may happen at some point but, as yet, Itauma, 10-0 (8 KOs), doesn’t slip into auto-pilot when a camera is placed in front of him. Neither does he feel the need to portray a character or drum up publicity. At the moment, Itauma is confident but quietly spoken and unfiltered and still seems entirely nonplussed by the level of interest in him.
Itauma did the media rounds at London’s York Hall on Saturday night. When he was asked for his thoughts on the British Boxing Board of Control’s decision to order unbeaten English heavyweight champion, Solomon Dacres, to defend his belt against him, Itauma’s eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head.
“He’s been ordered to fight me for, like, eight months now,” Itauma told Queensberry.
And does he see the board’s decision changing things?
“No.”
For the time being, Dacres, 9-0 (3 KOs), certainly – and understandably – seems much more interested in creating momentum behind his own career rather than becoming a character in Itauma’s rise, but fans have yet to latch on to his laidback style of fighting. Dacres is a capable, unbeaten heavyweight so will certainly be given a big opportunity at some point but, at 30-years-old, he needs to make an impression soon.
For the time being, however, he does seem happy to keep Itauma at arms length. Dacres recently said that he has never even met the talented youngster.
“He’s never met me? All these questions, it’s always, ‘What do you think about Soloman saying about this?’ It don’t matter,” an annoyed Itauma said. “I’ve met Solomon in Saudi. I’ve met him at [Joe] Joyce’s gym. I don’t like to get in a back and forth. I’ll fight Solomon for it and – if not – I’ve got to move on to bigger and better things. I don’t want to keep calling out his name and not fighting him because he’s irrelevant. Either, or. If the Solomon fight can get pulled off, I’ll fight him. If not I’ll move on.
Itauma revealed that he is likely to return to action on November 2 and that a few names have been proposed as potential opponents. His face lit up when the possibility of fighting Joe Joyce was mentioned. “The Juggernaut” recently lost to Derek Chisora but insists that he is going to continue fighting.
“What do you think? I think it’s a good fight as well,” Itauma said. “But if it happens, that’s another question.”
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