An unbeaten British prospect has been urged to play down recent comparisons to a boxing icon for the ages as he receives the first knock to his young career.
Set for an end-of-year return to the ring, the undefeated Moses Itauma recently missed out on a high-profile opponent in his comeback — against a foe who previously shared the ring with Anthony Joshua and Ukrainian star Wladimir Klitschko.
And improving to 13-0 in the summer, the Slovakian-born Itauma took out former world championship challenger Dillian Whyte with a savage opening round knockout win in the Middle East.
However, with comparisons to the iconic Mike Tyson already floated around Itauma by prominent names in the sport, a particular analyst wants to pump the brakes.
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Max Kellerman plays down Moses Itauma’s links to Mike Tyson
Expected to position himself for his first world championship pairing with a victory in his next pairing, Itauma seems to have missed out on a pairing with Kubrat Pulev, who has been ordered to face Murat Gassiev next.
And with his dominance in the ring on full show with his decimation of Whyte earlier in the summer, Itauma has already been compared to former world heavyweight champion Tyson.
But as far as prominent analyst Max Kellerman is concerned, Itauma should be nowhere near comparisons to Tyson — especially with claims he would still be so young in his career should he lose a world title fight in the future.
“The way he (Moses Itauma) talks, he said about (Oleksandr) Usyk, ‘Hey, if I win I’m champ. If I lose, I’m 20 years old.’ Let’s pump the brakes on that,” Kellerman said on Inside the Ring. “Mike Tyson, when he was 20 years old — the guy Itauma is most often compared to — and I’m not saying the next guy has to sound just like the last guy.
“But could you imagine Mike ever saying at 20, ‘If I lose, I’m only 20 years old?’ He said it. Now, to be fair to Mike, there wasn’t any Usyks around at the time. Larry Holmes was younger than Usyk, but he was further from his prime than Usyk still is at the top. I don’t know about that one. I don’t like it at all.”
Oleksandr Usyk refuses Moses Itauma fight in new retirement plan
Yet to book his own return to the ring, Ukrainian megastar Usyk has ruled out a future pairing with the undefeated Itauma, however.
Initially expected to weigh up a potential retirement from boxing off the back of his return, Usyk has issued a new timeline for his combat sports curtain closer.
Seemingly vowing to fight for another three years at the very least, Usyk claimed he had no plans to share the ring with Itauma.
“No, I won’t fight (Moses) Itauma,” Usyk told Ready to Fight. “He’s young, he’s always teasing me. And he said himself, he doesn’t hit grandpas. I’ll fight until I’m 41. Then I’ll build a sports academy — I’ll train there and train others.”