Moses Itauma reveals decision which led to falling back in love with boxing

Daily Mirror

4 hours ago

The young British heavyweight is destined for greatness in the world of boxing, but has recently detailed how he had to fall back in love with the sport after a rough patch
Moses Itauma has revealed coach Ben Davison helped him fully restore his love for the sport of boxing.
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The British heavyweight star is set for his toughest fight yet on Saturday night against veteran Dillian Whyte. The 20-year-old has been on a tear as of late and remains unbeaten inside the squared-circle. After announcing himself on the world stage with a destructive win over Mariusz Wach, Itauma followed it up with back-to-back knockout wins over Demsey McKean and Mike Balogun.
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That said, it was not all plain sailing for Itauma - who is widely regarded as one of the hottest prospects in boxing's heaviest division. Two years ago, when he made his highly-anticipated debut against Marcel Bode, the young star got off to a flying start and began knocking out people for fun. But the Chatham brawler - who is set to have his fifth fight under the legendary Davison - admitted how he started to 'hate' the sport barely a year after his debut.
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'Being in the ring (sparring) with all these heavyweights Daniel Dubois, Joe Joyce, Tyson Fury, Lawrence Okolie, I know that there are levels to boxing and I just felt like I was unable to learn any more,' Itauma said. The Brit admits that, under the guidance of Davison, he found a new side to the sport.
'I don't want to disrespect any of the coaches I tried or did work with. I love and respect them, but with Ben, he taught me a different side to boxing," he continued. 'He taught me there is more to boxing than punch, punch, get punched, punch back, punch, punch, punch. There is actually a whole chess game to this.'
The 20-year-old has steamrolled through every opponent that has been put in front of him and has not gone past the second round since his fourth outing. With 10 of his 12 wins coming by way of knockout, he was once tipped to surpass Mike Tyson's record of becoming the youngest heavyweight champion. Whilst that did not come to fruition, Itauma is a champion in the making.
But in order to become the best version of himself, he needs to have the right support and the right team. In March 2024, Itauma split from old trainer Alan Smith, despite scoring a brutal victory over Dan Garber not long before. Over the years, he has tried several different trainers and coaches, but never really seemed to click with anyone - until Davison.
Davison, Fury's former coach, helps train several high-level boxers, including Anthony Joshua, Fabio Wardley, Leigh Wood, Shabaz Masoud and Pat McCormack. Opening up on the famous boxing coach, Itauma explained: 'What I mean with falling out of love with boxing is, it was kind of like I felt like I reached a barrier and I was unable to break it.
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'That is why I went around searching for a new trainer to get something new. I tried out a lot of coaches and Ben Davison was actually the last one I tried. If I'll be honest, when I went to Ben, I was like he has too many stars in the gym, he won't really have time for me, he won't give me time I need but my brother was like there is no harm in trying Ben Davison.
'And I went there and as I walked through the doors, there is a glass window on the door where you can see inside the gym and Ben has got all my fights up. He is writing in his notepad and he was like, 'you do this, I don't know if you're aware of it, now we need to make you aware of this and do this, this and this,' and I was like, 'rah, none of the other coaches did that.'
'And it was only when I started sparring, he would say, 'if I do this, he will do this and you can capitalise,' and I would go and do it, it would pay off and I'd be like what! Obviously we just clicked from there but the most impressive thing is how you have so many stars in the gym but each individual fighter gets the necessary time.'
When is Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte?
The 'Esports World Cup Fight Week: Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte' will take place on Saturday, August 16. The main undercard is due to get underway at around 5:45 pm UK time (12:45 pm ET / 9:45 am PT). The main event ringwalks will likely take place at around 10:20pm UK time (5:20 pm ET / 2:20 pm PT).
All of the action will be streamed live on DAZN Pay Per-View. The event is priced at £19.99 in the United Kingdom, $49.99 in the United States, €19.99 in Europe and $49.95 in Australia.