Moses Itauma leaves sports psychologist baffled as he reveals boxing is his ‘drug' ahead of Dillian Whyte fight
The undefeated Itauma has also revealed how he's handling his newfound fame
THE IT FACTOR Moses Itauma leaves sports psychologist baffled as he reveals boxing is his 'drug' ahead of Dillian Whyte fight
MOSES ITAUMA is so transfixed on boxing brilliance that he's baffling brain boffins.
The 20-year-old followed big brother Karol into the sport aged 10 and was sparring men twice his age - like Olympic silver Joe Joyce - by the time he was just 15.
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Moses Itauma is seemingly on a one-way ticket to heavyweight superstardom
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Itauma has blown through all comers in his brief professional career
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The undefeated prospect faces the biggest test of his career in Dillian Whyte on Saturday night
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The 20-year-old's psychological make-up has baffled experts
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Tomorrow night - with just 20 amateur bouts and 12 low-pressure pro experiences - he dares to take on 37-year-old dangerman Dillian Whyte.
The bullet and blade-scarred Brixton Body Snatcher, who has warred with the toughest men from this era - from Derek Chisora to Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua - should terrify the baby-faced novice.
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But even at Thursday's press conference, Itauma went nose-to-nose with the Jamaica-born brawler, urged him to remove his sunglasses for a real look into his soul and refused to back down when Whyte warned him: "Don't act the tough guy.'
The Kent starlet's Slovak-Nigerian genes have made him a formidable and focused force, the coaching at his childhood St Mary's gym in Chatham and early work with Dan Woledge made him a punching prodigy, and the adulation and millions of pounds are providing worthy inspiration.
READ MORE ON ITAUMA VS WHYTE
SHADY AFFAIR Whyte and Itauma in awkward exchange over SUNGLASSES in pair's final face-off
But Itauma already seems to be operating on a higher plane that even doctors can't diagnose.
'It stopped being about money a long time ago,' he said ahead of the big-bucks Riyadh ruck.
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'I wouldn't do the sport for free - I'm not that much of a madman.
'But I was at an event recently where they had a sports psychologist and they were trying to analyse me.
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MOSES ITAUMA VS DILLIAN WHYTE: ALL THE DETAILS YOU NEED AHEAD OF HUGE HEAVYWEIGHT BOUT
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'They kept asking me what my 'WHY' was. Why I do the sport? I really thought about it and I don't have a WHY.
'It's just what I've always done, since I was a kid.
Moses Itauma and Dillian Whyte in awkward exchange over SUNGLASSES as pair face off for final time
'And when or if I don't do it, I feel out of rhythm, I don't feel good, I feel trashed".
Undisputed heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk, 38, told SunSport before his July domination of Daniel Dubois that boxing was a drug and he was the "top narco guy'.
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And heir apparent Itauma, who has a similar size and identical southpaw stance, sounds perfectly placed to take over the empire.
Without being reminded of Usyk's chilling analogy, he told us: 'I feel like boxing is a drug that you have to keep on taking or you suffer serious withdrawal symptoms.'
Itauma is not fussy about where he gets his fix from either.
Before he took over the desert, he graced undercards in Wembley, Hackney, Bethnal Green and Greenwich.
But it was in his Chatham garden during the 2020 Covid lockdowns - when amateur and pro boxing was shut down - that he had some of his most brutal deals overseen by a very unlikely fixer.
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He grinned: 'Me and my brother used to spar in the garden and my grandma would come out and hit us with towels to try and make us stop.
'Because we were all blooded up and busted noses. During Covid, it was at its worst.
'Me and Karol would get our neighbour to tie up our gloves, no headguards, and then we would just have tear-ups.
'We probably shouldn't have done it… but it's all character building.'
Character is not something Itauma is short of, and matching it with his physical prowess has understandably made him a hit with the ladies.
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It's just what I've always done, since I was a kid."
Moses Itauma on why he fights
And - as much as he is enjoying some of his newfound fame - he would prefer if his diehard followers stopped making him an Undateable.
'I like the fame sometimes,' he said with a Barry White-esque boom.
'Like, if I'm in a restaurant and trying to impress a certain someone and the waiter or manager recognises me. It's great to be respected and to feel that.
'But I also went to Nottingham for the Leigh Wood fight and was halfway through eating some chicken, fingers and face covered in sauce and grease and some guy tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Let me get a picture.'
'I looked at him, then down at my chicken and then back at him and my coach spotted it and explained I was eating and would do it after my meal.
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'Another time, I was in a restaurant with a burger in my hand and two guys came up to me and started taking selfies and filming videos of me, while I had the burger in my hand.
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Boxing has been Moses Itauma's vice for several years
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Itauma has had several backyard scraps with his brother and fellow boxer, Karol
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Moses Itauma admits he's still getting to grips with his newfound fame
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'But other times I might walk into a restaurant and get recognised and a load of free food. So I just have to accept the good with the bad.'
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Good and bad, dreams and nightmares, time-defying Itauma is prepared for it all.
'Around Dillian's peak,' he said about the 2015-2019 period Whyte scored 11 straight wins, after a thrilling loss to Joshua. "I would have just started boxing and then won my first European title.
'The first fight I watched where I really knew both fighters was AJ and Dillian in 2015 and now, 10 years later, I am boxing him - how mad is that?
'It's crazy, some people might say I'm living a dream.
'A young kid actually came up to me at the gym the other day, he said 'Moses Itauma, I love you bro, you're living there dream''.
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