Itauma vs Whyte Predictions: Dillian’s date with destiny in a War of the Moses

Heavyweight wunderkind Moses Itauma reckons with the ghosts of British boxing’s past when he takes on two-time world challenger Dillian Whyte on August 16. Where else can one expect to find a quintessentially British big man battle but Saudi Arabia? The ANB Arena will host this contest. The action will be screened live on DAZN PPV, with a supporting cast including WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball, the man he won it from in Raymond Ford and heavyweight contender Filip Hrgovic.

Here are my Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte predictions ahead of a fight that promises fireworks and a direction of travel for the division.

Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte Odds

Itauma is 1/10 to lay out a man with experience at the very highest level, a true endorsement of his knockout power. Whyte is 7/1, the longest price against him since his 2022 loss to Tyson Fury. The draw is priced at 16/1.

Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte Fight Preview

Put up or shut up. Fight or flight. S**t or get off the pot. Itauma and those behind his supposedly-inexorable rise have decided now is the time for the big test. Whyte has only lost to world champions, with two of those three defeats coming while challenging for the title itself. Whatever you think of Itauma, the training wheels are off for this one.

Turki Alalshikh, Don King for the TikTok generation, has decided Itauma should get the next shot at Oleksandr Usyk. Not Joseph Parker, the New Zealand master who has beaten the fearsome trio of Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang and Martin Bakole one after the other. Not Agit Kabayel, who took the unbeaten records of Arslanbek Makhmudov and Frank Sanchez as a betting underdog before snapping Zhang’s comeback in half. 

No, instead of these two men who have carved up the best contenders in the division, the self-appointed tsar of the fight game wants Itauma to fight Usyk, a man many are calling the greatest heavyweight of all time. While those people are beyond wrong, what is even more incorrect is pitching a 20-year-old, however murderous a puncher he is, in with a pound-for-pounder.

Mike Tyson, the commonly-cited Itauma parallel, won the heavyweight title at the same age as Itauma. But ‘Iron’ Mike was 27-0 with 25 knockouts by the time he wiped the floor with WBC champion Trevor Berbick. A middling title-holder who warrants no sensible comparison with the generational Usyk. 

Without the motor-mouthery coming from Turki, Whyte would seem like an excellent next step for Itauma. ‘The Body Snatcher’ is a box office. A sellable name that even casual fans know from his fights with Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. Whyte has won at a high level, beating Derek Chisora, Robert Helenius, Jermaine Franklin, Lucas Browne and the aforementioned Parker.

But Whyte also appears to be on the slide. The Franklin win was close and controversial to some. Even if you had the Brixton man winning, the battle with ‘989 Assassin’ was still more taxing than expected. 

Whyte followed that up with a stoppage over fringe contender-turned-heavyweight whipping boy Christian Hammer. The man you go to when you need to get back on track with a convincing victory. But Whyte’s next outing did little to convince as he went life and death with Ebeneezer Tetteh, a limited lump who both Daniel Dubois and Fraser Clarke took out in a round apiece. Whyte needed seven to shift the Ghanaian struggler.

Fighters on the slide often meet boxers on the rise during their descent. Some stave off the inevitable march of time with an upset win. 42-year-old Larry Holmes was considered easy meat when unbeaten puncher Ray Mercer looked to pick over the scraps in 1992. But the dignified ‘Easton Assassin’ dismantled his man to upset the rise of the heavyweight division’s next hope. Whyte will be looking to read from a similar script here.

Itauma has made all the right moves so far. Early talk that he would usurp Tyson’s long-standing record as the youngest heavyweight champion ever proved fanciful. But his 12-0 record has 10 knockouts, many of them spectacular. Since back-to-back points wins over six rounds in 2023, none of Itauma’s opponents have reached the third round.

The quality of the quarry has increased steadily and sensibly. Itauma cleaned out two-time amateur EU Championships silver medallist Istvan Bernath in his sixth fight. Title challenger-turned-journeyman Mariusz Wach, the man you get if Christian Hammer is not available, lasted just two rounds. It was the fastest stoppage defeat ever suffered by ‘The Viking’.

Demsey McKean, a former Joshua sparring partner, had taken Hrgovic into the 12th round in his previous fight. Itauma needed just the opener to see the Aussie off. Mike Balogun was the fall guy in Moses’ latest outing. The former NFL linebacker did not get many yards in against the big-banging southpaw. Itauma had him out of there in the second round.

Whyte is not being brought in to win. He could, of course, but that is not the reason for his presence in Riyadh. ‘The Body Snatcher’ (or ‘Child Snatcher’, as ring announcer Thomas Treiber amusingly misnomered at the press conference) has been cordially invited as a big name and a medium-sized test. Queensberry will be hoping to see their man get a few more rounds than usual, but not too many. This is about the Slovakia-born sniper looking good against a big name in front of a mainstream audience.

Whyte will not willingly play along. But ‘The Villain’ has not been the same since Fury dominated him for the WBC title back in 2022. The road to a title shot had been long and arduous. After sitting atop the rankings for years, Whyte saw his chance slip away when Alexander Povetkin knocked him out in 2020. A rematch victory by stoppage looked to right the ship, but ‘The Gypsy King’ toyed with Whyte a year later.

Since then, the once-feared Londoner has had the air of yesterday’s man. Even beyond Itauma, a bevy of British big men have staked a claim. 

Fabio Wardley has battered his way to the front of the queue with impressive stoppages of Clarke and Justis Huni. British champion David Adeleye gets a chance to prove he can go further against Hrgovic on this very card. Dubois has had a whole AJ-smashing rise and Usyk-perpetrated fall during Whyte’s fallow years. ‘The Body Snatcher’ has got lost in the shuffle. Even Chisora, who lost two absolute wars to Whyte, is now riding a three-fight win streak that could see him handed an unlikely title shot.

Beat Itauma and Whyte will eat at least one more meal at the top table. Lose and he risks becoming fodder. A name for the record of prospects far and wide, but one that decreases in shine each time it is taken. Like all the best fights, both men need this badly. Itauma’s future rides on it. But if he wins, Whyte will be forever consigned to boxing’s past.

Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte Full Card

Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte

Nick Ball vs Sam Goodman

Filip Hrgovic vs David Adeleye

Raymond Ford vs Abraham Nova

Mohammed Alakel vs Yumnam Santosh Singh

Hayato Tsutsumi vs Qais Ashfaq

Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte Prediction

This is Itauma’s moment. Whyte is there for the taking. I take no joy in predicting the downfall of a heavyweight who has had a wonderful career. Whyte never secured the world title. But then not many do, even in the four-belt era. However, the former British and Commonwealth king was perhaps the most feared man in the division at one stage.

Itauma holds that mantle now. How he fares against Whyte will decide how long and strong his grip is. Picking the 20-year-old to win is no stretch and close to a certainty in the eyes of most.

This fight will last longer than the raft of one/two round demolition jobs. But Itauma will break his man down. I like Itauma in rounds 7-9 as a market at 5/1. I toyed with 4-6 for the round grouping, with two of Whyte’s three losses coming within those parameters. 

But unlike Fury and Povetkin, who finished Dillian in rounds six and five respectively, Whyte offers something Itauma will not have seen before. The kid might get there, but he is not a world champion yet. Fury and Povetkin had both spent 12 rounds in the ring with Wladimir Klitschko by the time they knocked out Whyte. Itauma does not have that grounding yet. This fight should be the start of him receiving that crucial intermediate education.

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