Nigerian-born fast-rising heavyweight boxing prodigy, Moses Itauma has promised to stay rooted on the righteous path of life all through his career, with a declaration that he will not be derailed by fortune and fame, Sports247 reports.
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Speaking ahead of his epic clash with America’s Jermaine Franklin this Saturday in Manchester, England, the 21-year-old Itauma said he will not go down the same destruction path that Mike Tyson followed in his prime.
While acknowledging the great impact watching Tyson had on his career and conceded that the American icon was powerful in the ring, Itauma stressed that he will not allow success in the roped square go to his head like it did with the former champ.
Itauma noted philosophically that the comparison he has been given with the emergence of Tyson back then as a young fighter is a blessing and a curse, saying it puts more weight of expectation on his shoulders outside the ring.
The comparison of Itauma’s strides with Tyson started after he got his professional debut in the wake of his 18th birthday and won all 13 fights of his career, with 11 of them via knock-out, making him widely tipped as a future champion.
Observers say Itauma is so ruthless that he has finished off his last nine opponents in the first two rounds, never going past the sixth, and he is already highly ranked with World Boxing Organisation (WBO) and World Boxing Association (WBA).
This Saturday, the British Young Boxer of The Year 2025 steps into the ring against USA’s Franklin, who has gone the distance with two other British heavyweights, Anthony Olaseni Oluwafemi Joshua and Dillian Whyte.
How Itauma performs against Franklin will be a key gauge in considering if he is ready for a world title shot, but his promoter, Frank Warren, who has handled top fighters like Tyson, Frank Bruno and Tyson Fury, believes the lad will go far.
Such predictions are putting the spotlight further on Itauma and the youngster admits it, but stressed ahead of his next nght out in Manchester on DAZN that keeping himself close to good natured people will prevent him from derailing.
Itauma declared: “I think you have to have the right people around. I feel we need to have difficult conversations sometimes. I feel like a lot of people have had to have the difficult conversations that they choose to avoid.
“Not only do I want to prove it to the fans and to the public. I want to prove to myself that I can do what I think I can do. People think I’ve had time out but from when I boxed in August, I had an injury that I had to recover from.
“But I’ve still been training. It’s not like I’ve been resting. Whatever the future is, the future is, isn’t it? It’s unknown. But I know that I’ve got Jermaine Franklin (on Saturday) and I know what’s what. (I know) what the craic is with that.”
