Is Moses Itauma ready for the heavyweight elite?
Old friend Ade Oladipo reunites with Ariel to talk all things boxing, starting with the reaction to his viral George Foreman clip, then discussing Moses Itauma's massive potential, the drama surrounding Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury and it potentially not taking place in the UK, Zuffa Boxing's impact so far, and more.
Video Transcript
What about our guy, Moses Itauma?
Moses Itauma fighting this weekend.
Toughest test to date, Filip Hrgovic.
I don't wanna put you in an awkward spot here, Ade, but it drives me up the wall that this is on pay-per-view.
This can't be on pay-per-view.
You need to let the world know who Moses Itauma is.
You need to let the- Yeah world know how great this guy is.
Nevertheless, he can become one of the youngest heavyweight champions of all time.
I'm just wondering, back, back home in England, in your country, how big of a deal is he now?
I just got a nice little package from his team.
The Team Itauma hat and shirt, Nike shirt.
Super cool.
But has he broken through yet, or is Saturday the night where he breaks through?
Saturday's the night.
He, he's breaking through.
He hasn't broken through as yet.
He's not on the, the level of a, I don't know, a Chris Eubank Jr. Or a Conor Benn or Fury or AJ, but those are behemoths when it comes to British boxing.
He's on his way, and I think Saturday could be that crowning moment.
O2 Arena, almost the spiritual home of British boxing.
It's sold out.
And, and not only is he fighting for a world title, but he's fighting for a world title against a legit opponent.
I remember many people raised eyebrows when AJ beat Charles Martin, right?
Charles Martin never really a top-tier heavyweight.
Filip Hrgovic is that.
Filip Hrgovic is without doubt a top six, top seven heavyweight.
So for him to become champion, he's having to beat someone that is formidable, someone who, a decade ago, everyone was like, was crowning as the next Wladimir Klitschko.
Hasn't quite worked out that for Filip Hrgovic, but he's still very, very good.
But he's only tw- look, let's not forget, Moses is a baby.
Moses is 21.
I think he's gonna be 22 in December.
Right.
He might be 22 now, but I think he might be 23 in December.
I think he's 21.
He's a baby.
And as you said, I mean, he- he's bidding to become the second-youngest ever heavyweight world champion, just behind Mike Tyson, in front of the likes of Floyd Patterson and Muhammad Ali.
It- it's in- it's insane what he's trying to do.
He is special.
It won't be easy.
And hopefully, when he does do that, because we are coming to the end of the road for AJ, Fury, Usyk.
I don't know, Dillian Whyte, Chisora.
Hopefully, this is the guy that the baton can be passed to, and we've got him for the next 10 years or so.
Because I do think there is a special, special talent there, and fingers crossed we see it on Sun- on Saturday, sorry.
21 turning 22.
These are the odds, by the way.
According to, our good friends over at Calci, 86% favoring Moses Itauma against a very tough guy.
I remember not that long ago, Hrgovic against Joshua.
People were like, "Okay, what's gonna happen?"
Or Hrgovic against Wilder, I do believe.
Mm-hmm.
And, people were like, "What's gonna happen?"
This is a tough, tough, tough guy who a lot of people think is sort of like a litmus test, I would say, at heavyweight.
Yeah.
Not necessarily like a gatekeeper, but if you can get past him, now you're the real deal.
One thing I love about Moses, and I know you've had a chance to speak to him as well, very sort of thoughtful and introspective.
Like, he, you When you speak to him, you don't, you don't, like, realize he's 21.
He actually is quite wise.
Do you feel the same way?
Yeah.
There's just something about his answers that I'm really impressed by.
I, I do.
I do.
You're right.
Sometimes I have to kind of double-check that I'm speaking to someone that I'm old enough to be his dad.
Yeah.
He sounds like a very mature kid.
That's crazy.
Yeah, it's crazy, right?
but then he's whole family are like that.
His brothers are like that as well.
I've spoken to his dad, Charles, a few times.
He's like that.
So I can kind of see where Moses, gets it from.
And then you've got Lee Wiley and Ben Davison, who are very sort of articulate, very smart, approach this boxing training from a very different standpoint.
They're not sort of throwback, old-school-type trainers.
It's very, a new thing they're trying to do.
And if you speak to them, you can understand where Moses gets it from.
He almost studies the sport.
Moses has said, like, "I'm a big fan of it.
I always watch tape."
He And a lot of boxers don't watch tape anymore.
They say, "Oh, no, I leave that to my trainer."
He watches tape.
He's a big fan of Shakur Stevenson, big fan of David Benavidez.
He watches those guys.
So he's a student of the sport.
And, I think he understands who he is now as well.
Like, all the hype w- was a couple of years ago.
And ultimately, when, you know, when you're coming through boxing, you kind of get tomato cans, let's be honest with you.
You get garbage guys that you really should knock out.
Now we understand this is the real deal.
That this is now the acid test.
You're getting guys put in front of you that are coming to win.
You're now headlining shows.
I know you don't like it, people don't like it, but now you're a pay-per-view guy as well.
You've got to deliver.
All that prom- it's almost like Frank Warren's gone all in on red.
Like, this is it.
I'm going all in with all my chips on you.
So he's got to deliver on Saturday.
And I feel like he's someone that, again, when you're around, looks like he can handle that pressure.
He wins, who does he get?
It really should be Frank Sanchez.
Frank Sanchez has taken step-aside money to allow this fight to happen for the world title.
It should be Frank Sanchez.
The dream, the dream for me is somehow to see him versus Kabayel or Daniel Dubois.
That, that I mean, when you're talking about is he a superstar yet, you become a superstar sometimes with big domestic dust-ups.
And Daniel Dubois, the world champion, should be fighting Fabio Wardley again if Daniel Dubois can get past Fabio Wardley.
Dubois versus Itauma is just I mean, that's blockbuster.
That, that's Wembley Stadium, that's Tottenham Stadium.
Wow.
That, that's a massive fight.
So that's what I would like to see.
Him versus Dubois or him versus Kabayel.
But if it's tradition, if it's sort of next man up, it should be Frank Sanchez.
All right, let's stick with the heavywe-
