‘What is there to eat?’ ‘Nothing and we’ve got no money’: The hunger fueling the rise of Moses Itauma

When Moses Itauma arrives in Paris to watch the Olympic Games, he will do so with the conviction that he was right to turn professional aged 18.

Following a weekend in which Jared Anderson’s stoppage defeat by Martin Bakole established him, beyond doubt, as the world’s most promising young heavyweight, and a week after Delicious Orie was eliminated from the Games following a controversial defeat, Itauma will perhaps be more aware than ever of how fragile a fighter’s existence remains.

That he trains alongside Anthony Joshua at Ben Davison’s Essex-based gym may have tempted him to reflect on both the glory and the rewards involved in becoming Olympic champion. Winning gold at London 2012 meant that the endlessly marketable Joshua was given the most privileged of platforms on which to build his lucrative and successful career, and that his transformation from the troubled teen once arrested for possessing cannabis and intent to supply the drug to world heavyweight champion remains one of the most celebrated of all.

Itauma – perhaps ironically, given he is 19 and that Joshua entered the London Games aged 22 – regardless didn’t believe that he had time as a luxury. He has revealed, for the first time, that suggestions that he was told that he wouldn’t be selected to compete in Paris are wrong. It was instead a need to support his impoverished family – to literally help put food on the table – that meant that he believed that he had little choice but to turn professional. 

The recent, and impressive, stoppage of the durable Mariusz Wach enhanced his reputation to a wider audience and proved the biggest statement of his 10-fight professional career, but that was something the relaxed, maturing heavyweight took in his stride. Providing comfort for his family, and having the freedom to independently travel to the Games, ultimately means considerably more.

“There have been times when me and my brother would ask each other, ‘What have we got to eat for dinner tonight?’,” Itauma explains. “‘Oh, I guess we are just going to sleep’. That’s what we had for our dinner – we had sleep for dinner.

“This was when I was like 16 or 17 – only two or three years ago. I swear. We were laughing about it at the time but only now do I realise that we really had nothing. It was all going so well. My mum and dad were together; [brother and professional light heavyweight] Karol was working; everything was going to plan. But then my dad wasn’t really around anymore and my mum can’t really afford three big kids on her own.

“Me and Samuel, my middle brother, would laugh about it. I’d say, ‘Samuel, what is there to eat?’ And he’d say, ‘Nothing and we’ve got no money’, so I’d say, ‘Right, so what do we do?’, and he’d say, ‘Well I guess we’re going to sleep’. Sometimes we could go to a mate’s house and hope they’d cook something for us. It gave me extra motivation to work harder. 

“It was a mad time. I was weighing about 120kgs when I was 15 or 16 and then when me and Samuel had to move out I would be losing a kilo or two every time I went to training. My trainer would say, ‘Why are you losing so much weight?’ And I’d just tell him I had no money for food. That’s just how it was – it wasn’t intentional.

“I just got skinny. I dropped about 25kgs and that’s when my coach Dan Woledge sponsored me and then [my promoter] Frank Warren jumped in to sponsor me as well.”

It was under Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions that Itauma turned professional, when on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev’s stoppage of Anthony Yarde in January 2023 he required only 23 seconds to defeat Marcel Bode – regardless of the fact that his brother Karol had just lost for the first time.

Though Warren’s son Francis is Itauma’s manager, the model so far being followed in Itauma’s career is like that so many others have succeeded with under the promoter’s guidance. Yarde, Daniel Dubois and Hamzah Sheeraz have made admirable progress as professionals owing above all else to their natural talent, but Warren insists that the correct professional experience is a superior path to that offered by the Olympics – the pinnacle of some of most celebrated fighters’ careers – contributing to Itauma’s assertion that he has been watching what has been unfolding in Paris without any sense of regret.

“Rob McCracken told me himself if I’d stayed amateur I’d have gone to this Olympics,” he says. “I sparred Delicious and I had it my way. I could have gone. 

“It tempted me a lot, but external factors – my family kind of needed me to turn pro. I didn’t come from a privileged background, do you know what I mean? Turning professional – I’m not saying I done it for that – but I just kind of didn’t really have a choice.

“I wouldn’t regret it. Never. I boxed out in Saudi Arabia; I was in the dinner with all the greatest heavyweights; lightweights. I was in the same room as Mike Tyson; Manny Pacquiao; Shannon Briggs. I was just there with all of these greats thinking, ‘My life is really blessed’. In my mind I was thinking, ‘I could have gone to the Olympics, and this would always be there’, but no, this has all come perfect timing. I definitely don’t regret this. No way.

“It makes it a step closer to being at the top. Why would I want to wait four or five years if I can have that next year? I don’t regret that. I feel like I’m in the best game in the world. At the beginning I kind of felt like I had to do it; I’ve [since] said it multiple times, ‘I get to do this; I have the opportunity to do this’. 

“There are so many fighters around the world that want to do this as their job but can’t. Or fighters that enjoy boxing and have to do bricklaying on the side, or something. I’m in a privileged position where I don’t have to do that. I’ve got nothing to complain about. I feel like I’m living the dream. Sometimes I look at myself, and when I’m in Saudi Arabia and look at the room they’ve got for me, and I’m like… the food I’m eating. 

“When I was out training in Saudi Arabia, I’m looking at Fury; I’m looking at Kevin Lerena; all these lot. I’m looking at the villa that we’re in and thinking, ‘No, this is fake’. Two years ago I was struggling. Me and my brother was eating mayonnaise on rice for dinner – do you get what I mean? Now I was in Saudi Arabia with the greatest heavyweights, eating big steaks; living in a nice house; a nice apartment. It felt surreal. 

“[The sense of pressure to provide for my family is] why I didn’t really enjoy it at first. Then when all the puzzle pieces started to come together – then I realised the sport I’m in. I do love it now.

“Just being comfortable and not having to worry about money. That’s it really. I don’t need 50 cars or private jets; I just want to be comfortable. I don’t want anyone around me to be stressing.

“I thought Delicious would get further. He’s the European champion so I thought he’d get further than what he did. But maybe winning isn’t a good thing because if you wake up thinking you’re a winner you’ll go to bed a loser. Every morning you have to have the mentality of a loser. 

“Maybe him winning European gold meant he thought he was a winner so he could take his foot off the gas. Maybe that’s what cost him an Olympic medal. It could be – I don’t know his mentality.

“I’m there to watch the athletes. The runners and boxers have trained their whole lives for that so I want to go and support them. The athletics; the men and women’s 52 and 92 final [in boxing].”

Itauma – from Chatham, Kent – has already bought two houses in the little over 18 months since he was paid to fight for the first time.

The potential loss of Anderson as a rival of the future – for all of his ability, Anderson, more than anything else let down by naive matchmaking when on Saturday he was stopped by Bakole, lacks Itauma’s conviction – makes the ongoing presence in Paris of Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov a subject of increased interest, regardless of Itauma’s desire, after a short break, to fight for a title next.

“I think Jalolov [will win gold] but that’s unfair,” Itauma says. “He’s 12-0 [he’s actually 14-0] as a professional; he’s 30-years-old; done two Olympic cycles already, that’s a bit unfair isn’t it? 

“I know though that in Uzbekistan winning Olympic gold is better than a world title so if you can do then you would. The Australian heavyweight [Teremoana Junior, who lost to Jalolov] looks good too.

“In the two [professional] fights I went the distance I was disappointed with myself, ‘cause I could have done more. Even though I say I’m disappointed in those fights, I’m actually happy in my career. I’m a year and a half in; I’ve had 10 fights. I’m ranked number eight with the WBO; I’m in a good position right now. I can’t really ask for more.

“I want it to be my next fight or the fight after [when I compete for a title]. When I turned pro I said I wanted to beat Mike Tyson’s record [of being the youngest world heavyweight champion at the age of 20] – that’s only because I shared the ring with all the world guys [in sparring]. I hold my own. 

“Sometimes I went into that spar, I done the better. In my mind I’m thinking, ‘Why are you holding me back? I’m as good as these guys’. 

“Then obviously I’m in the ring, and the atmosphere; the small gloves; even the referee. In amateur boxing they’re very strict, with everything; in professional boxing you can give them a little elbow; a headbutt; you can get away with it. You can look at the ref, and he’s like, ‘Don’t look at me’. There’s a lot of differences, but I do feel like, skill-wise, I am ready. 

“My time will come.”