The difficulty of containing and feeding Moses Itauma

Yahoo

2 days ago

In 2003, Antoine Yates somehow managed to make space in his Harlem apartment for Ming, a 455-pound Siberian-Bengal tiger. For two and a half years, in fact, Yates and Ming had lived in relative harmony inside that five-bed apartment in the Drew-Hamilton Houses and it was only when a wounded Yates visited a hospital one day claiming to have been bitten by a pit bull that the jig was up.
Knowing that the bite on Yates was too severe to have been caused by a dog, paramedics promptly alerted the New York Police Department who paid Ming a house call on Oct. 4, 2003. It was then the job of Martin Duffy, a detective with the NYPD, to anchor himself from the seventh floor of the apartment block and descend to the fifth floor, from where he aimed a tranquilizer dart through the window bars. One shot was all Duffy would fire that day and one shot was all it took to cause Ming to jump, run and hit the wall of the space in which he had been contained. After that, he lunged at the window, while Duffy, still on his rope, recalled the whole building shaking.
Eight years later, in 2011, Antoine Yates' brother, Aaron, was interviewed in a nightclub and described the process of keeping Ming's healthy appetite sated during his time living among humans. It was, he stressed, a full-time job, one neither he nor his brother could take lightly. Asked what they fed the tiger, he said, 'Perdue chicken,' then sighed when pushed to reveal the cost of feeding Ming for a week. 'S***, man,' he said. 'Sometimes you've got money coming in, sometimes you don't got money coming in, so the grind is crazy. Sometimes I had to go into the supermarket and take chicken.'
The emphasis on 'take' was clear and so was the implication. To keep Ming satisfied, corners had been cut and rules had to be broken. There was, for both Aaron and Antoine, no alternative.
'If he got hungry, did you get scared?' Aaron was then asked.
'If that s*** got hungry, then I had to go and take chicken.'
The emphasis was even stronger the second time around.
In 2024, Moses Itauma, a 250-pound British heavyweight prospect beat two opponents — Mariusz Wach and Demsey McKean — quicker than anyone expected and the whole building started to shake. Suddenly now there was panic all around him and a fear that he was too good to share space with many of the opponents his handlers were lining up for him. He didn't just beat Wach and McKean, you see. He chewed them up, spat them out. He wasn't playing with his food, as is customary with youngsters, but was instead treating it with the contempt he felt it deserved. These were, to him, paltry portions. He wanted more. He needed more.
Next up for Itauma, in May 2025, was American Mike Balogun, with a record of 21-1. He, rightly or wrongly, was deemed a slight step up from the likes of Wach and McKean and the hope was that the arrogance Balogun displayed at the pre-fight press conference would manifest on fight night in the form of stiff competition. Even if few expected him to actually beat Itauma, there was at least optimism regarding Balogun's ability to take Itauma rounds and give him something tougher to chew on.
That optimism proved misplaced, however. The truth is, rather than take Itauma rounds, Balogun was immediately shocked by the southpaw's speed and accuracy in Round 1, then put out of his misery in the second. He had, he said, seen many things as a professional heavyweight, but never had he seen anything like Itauma.
Meanwhile, Itauma, licking his lips having barely broken sweat, simply looked ahead and demanded more. He demanded more from his team and, led by a rumbling belly, demanded more of future opponents.
'From a manager's point of view, it's all about every fight having a reason behind it,' said Francis Warren, Itauma's manager and the man tasked with bringing him the food. 'When he turned pro, I knew it did him no good to blast everybody out and I knew we needed to get him rounds. Hence why we chose [Kostiantyn] Dovbyshchenko and the Argentinean [Kevin Nicolas Espindola]. I saw that they both took opponents rounds in their previous fights and I thought, 'Right here's a chance for him to get some rounds under his belt early doors.'
'People, at that stage, were still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But, once you start going the distance later, people quickly turn and say, 'Maybe he's not the real deal.' They might start calling you a 'hype job'. The timing of those fights being made, in conjunction with the matchmaking of Queensberry [Itauma's promoter], were pretty smart moves.'
Itauma's 13th pro fight, which takes place Saturday against Dillian Whyte, marks a clear progression. In Whyte, Itauma will be facing a man who has not only been ranked as high as No. 1 with the WBC, but someone who has shared a ring with Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Joseph Parker and Derek Chisora. Best of all, Whyte, despite having failed more than one performance-enhancing drug test in his career, remains a semi-popular figure in the UK and is at the very least a known face, bolstered by his notoriety. Beat him and it still means something. Beat him and people will start to talk.
'I did say to him [Itauma], 'Before you take this fight, go away and think about it over the weekend,'' said Warren. 'I told him to discuss it with his family and think about how his life is going to change. 'Are you ready for that?' I said.
'Because it's not just the boxing life that can change. The day-to-day gym stuff is one thing, but can he go down [the British supermarket] Tesco? Can he go to the David Lloyd gym and sit and have a coffee after his workout? Probably not after this fight.
'Moses and his family have got to be prepared for that and it's good that he has his family there to protect him from the big, bad world of celebrity and media. I hate using that word, but these days if you're in the limelight, you're in the limelight. It's difficult to step out of it once you've gone through that gate. If he beats Dillian in serious style, everybody's going to really sit up and take notice. It will go beyond the boxing network — the people who currently know who he is. The people in the pub, and your football fans, will now start going, 'Bloody hell, did you see that kid who beat Dillian Whyte?' That's the next step.'
For as quick as he is with his hands and feet, there is a slowness to Itauma in the way he carries and conducts himself that should stand him in good stead when everything around him starts moving at speed. Some will call this slowness composure, and they would be right, and it is thanks to this composure that he is able to see things clearly and never appear in any sort of rush. In the ring, for example, he possesses that rare ability to lower his heart rate at the exact same point his opponent feels a spike in theirs. He is no less calm away from it, too, by all accounts.
'He's a great fella,' said Warren, whose father, Frank, promotes Itauma along with Francis' brother, George. 'He's a really down-to-earth guy. He likes what he likes and doesn't like what he doesn't like. He's got his hobbies. He likes his travel, his fashion, and his cars. He's finding his feet as a young man and he's had to grow up quickly and in front of everybody. I think he has been fast-forwarded five or six years sooner than most other guys. That's just a sign of early maturity, immense dedication, and belief. If you're willing to give up your teenage years and your early twenties, which he has done, you're going to want to then be repaid for it in terms of results and finances.
'Although I'm very impressed with him as a man, his progression as a fighter does not surprise me because I know how hard he works. I know what he's capable of. He is a [Lionel] Messi, he is a LeBron [James], he is a [Michael] Phelps, he is a Tiger Woods. He is a once-in-a-generation talent who will be a cultural sporting icon, worldwide. There's no doubt in my mind.'
While that is big talk, and unnervingly premature, Warren is not the first to go there. Many, in fact, have watched Itauma in the ring of late and come away feeling as though they have seen something different, something new, something hard to describe.
'He's all about angles and timing and doing stuff out of the box,' Warren explained. 'Against Balogun he was throwing heavy shots while going backwards and not many guys can do that, especially at heavyweight. He's a southpaw as well, which is not totally unusual but adds another dimension to his game. He's a right-handed southpaw, too, which allows him to control his opponent with that lead right hand and be accurate with it. He always wants to learn and has a knack of executing what he is told to do. It's scary stuff.
'I grew up watching Naz [Naseem Hamed] and it reminds me a bit of those times. They're not similar stylistically, but in terms of how they are doing things you have never seen before, and winning fights with ease, there are certain similarities.'
It was at that point Warren heard and then checked himself. He remembered that he is Itauma's manager, not his promoter or cheerleader. He must therefore manage. He must manage not only Itauma's career, but expectations — his own, ours, Itauma's. 'But also,' he said, 'let's not get too carried away. His best result is against Demsey [McKean] and, no disrespect to Demsey, but his best opponent prior to that was [Filip] Hrgovic. Naz would have tough fights and then do something incredible to make them look easy and I think that's what you're going to get with Moses. But time will tell, as always.'
If in the future there is to be an unravelling, the cause of it will not be a lack of meat or even talent. It will instead be due more to a lack of patience, one suspects. After all, it is much easier to run out of that than either food or ideas and the speed with which Itauma currently eats serves only to encourage some to get ahead of themselves.
Just last month, for instance, no sooner had Oleksandr Usyk beaten Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium than Turki Alalshikh, the Saudi Arabian financier, was telling the world, via social media, that the man he wanted to see challenge Usyk next was Moses Itauma. Yes, that Moses Itauma — 20 years old and with just 12 professional fights to his name. Itauma was, it seemed, the man Alalshikh had in mind for Usyk and Alalshikh, historically, tends to get what he wants. In fact, for as much as those around Itauma profess to have everything under control, their control, they are ultimately beholden to Alalshikh and his whims, as are most in boxing today.
'Turki Alalshikh first mentioned the Usyk fight at the beginning of this year,' said Warren. 'He went on talkSPORT and said, 'I want to make Moses Itauma against Usyk.' I called Moses and said, 'Do me a favor, don't listen to talkSPORT this afternoon.' He then later commented back and said, 'Let's make the fight.'
'So it's not Moses saying 'no' to anything, or being hesitant. It's more because once you go through that gate it's really difficult to close it. If he goes and beats Usyk, what then? You've done it all before your 21st birthday. Look at Tyson [Fury]. He's been very open about it. He beat [Wladimir] Klitschko [in 2015] and was then like, 'So what? What now? I've done that. What's next?'
'I'm not suggesting Moses would go off the boil and not want to box anymore. But what's the ambition at that point? What keeps him going back to the gym? All you're doing then is waiting for the next guy to come through. And if it doesn't go right, and Usyk has the night of his life and Moses isn't experienced enough, you've made a huge mistake unnecessarily.'
That Itauma expressed an interest in accepting Alalshikh's offer to fight Usyk comes as no surprise. He is, after all, a fighter. Fighters, even if concerned, will seldom project their concern for fear of it being construed as a weakness or character flaw. Moreover, with Itauma, you are dealing with a man whose goal from the very outset was to win a world heavyweight title quicker than Mike Tyson, who won a WBC heavyweight belt after just 20 years, four months, and 22 days. Itauma failed in that mission — he turns 21 in December — but that doesn't mean he has forgotten his promise, nor that he is willing to slow down or relax. It's for that reason he has people like Warren. Francis Warren. Frank Warren. George Warren. All the Warrens.
In the past it would have been easier to believe the Warrens' hardline approach and be more confident of Itauma being moved at the right pace. Yet, for better or worse, things are different now; times have changed. Whereas in the past there was far greater room for patience and planning in boxing, the more immediate nature of things today casts doubt on the fantasy of a fighter taking their time or being given dispensation. In the case of Itauma, one wonders whether there is even enough of a demand and scene in Great Britain these days for him to build his career the careful, old-fashioned way. With ticket-sellers a dying breed, and with so much work being outsourced to the Middle East, there is now a dearth of mid-level, arena-sized events taking place in the UK and that, both today and in the future, is an issue. Indeed, it would have been on those kinds of shows that a prospect like Itauma would have cut his teeth, built a fan base, and worked his way up the heavyweight rankings, one spot at a time.
Instead, we now have a sport of extremes. In Britain alone, you have either huge stadium fights or minor shows mostly ignored by the general public. For anyone in between — that is, any potential headliners and ticket-sellers — Riyadh calls. Even Itauma, with his career in its infancy, will have boxed four of his last seven fights in Saudi Arabia by the time Saturday's fight against Whyte is finished. No doubt it has done wonders for his bank balance, of course, but some of those fights in the Middle East would arguably have been better placed in the UK, where for now only the hardcore boxing fans are aware of Itauma's presence and ability.
Not only that, one struggles to fathom how a fighter like Itauma, 12-0 (10 KOs), can continue getting invited back to Riyadh and not be at the mercy of the man who invites him there: Turki Alalshikh. In other words, for as nice as it is to be welcomed and wooed, surely at some point Alalshikh gets what he wants and tells Itauma exactly what he wants him to do and when he wants him to do it.
'We're not going to be shouting out the window for fights that will be there for us in 12 months,' said a defiant Warren. 'He's in a great position. One of the main reasons for that is getting him on the title trail in only his ninth fight. That [a WBO intercontinental heavyweight belt] got him in the WBO rankings and now things are starting to open up and he's well positioned. He's [ranked] three with the WBA, nine with the WBC, and he's four or five with the IBF. He's in a position to take an opportunity if the money is right and if the timing is right. But he's also in a great position to continue working his way up the rankings and then take his pick when the belts become fragmented if and when Usyk retires. That could potentially be where we end up in 12 months.'
There is, for Moses Itauma, no need to get desperate before he has even turned 21. The same goes for the men looking after him, each of them doing all they can to keep him well fed and contained and ensure the world gets to know about him only when the time is right. Until then, they must protect him to some extent but also let him be true to his nature. For while it is accepted that some animals need confinement and must be controlled, there are others born to be free, unleashed. The trick is to know the difference.