Moses Itauma: A Million Times Better Than Joshua and Fury
At 21, Moses Itauma has boxed just 14 times as a professional. According to Prince Naseem Hamed, that is already enough to put him on a different planet to Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
On Saturday night at London’s O2 Arena, the unbeaten heavyweight from Chatham steps in with Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic for the vacant IBF world title. Win, and he becomes the second-youngest heavyweight world champion in history, behind only Mike Tyson.
For Hamed, that’s not the story. The story is how far he thinks this kid can go.
‘On another level’
“Moses is on another level to the likes of Tyson Fury and Tyson would say that himself. Tyson would not want to fight Moses and neither would Joshua,” Hamed told BBC Sport.
“If they did I would say they are very brave.”
No soft comparison. No cautious caveat. Hamed, 52, puts Itauma not just alongside Britain’s modern heavyweight kings, but miles beyond them.
“I think Tyson Fury was amazing for British boxing and what he achieved, what he did and brought to the game and how colourful he was as a personality,” he said.
“I think Joshua did an amazing job early in his career to win a world title and be an ambassador for British boxing.
“[But] I can’t compare Moses. He is a million times better than them.”
That is a three-weight-class leap in expectation. Fury, a two-time world champion with wins over Wladimir Klitschko and Deontay Wilder, has lost only to Oleksandr Usyk, twice. Joshua, a former unified champion, has four defeats in 34 fights and rebuilt himself more than once on the biggest stages.
Hamed hears all that history. Then shrugs. Itauma, in his eyes, is something else entirely.
Chasing Tyson’s shadow
The numbers show how quickly Itauma is moving. Fourteen fights, fourteen wins. The IBF belt already in reach.
If he beats Hrgovic, he will become the second-youngest heavyweight world champion ever, trailing only Mike Tyson. He will also do it in one fewer bout than Joshua, who claimed his first world title in his 16th professional fight.
There is a twist of irony in the record books. Hamed himself became Britain’s youngest world champion back in 1995 when he dethroned Steve Robinson for the WBO featherweight title in Cardiff at 21 years and 230 days.
Itauma will miss that British age record by just 14 days if he wins on Saturday.
Hamed doesn’t care.
He has seen enough of the sport, and of the pressure that comes with those numbers, to know where the real value lies.
“Winning a national title as an amateur aged 11 and then having in your head all the way through your amateur career that you’ll be world champion at 21 – I visualised that. I think it’s very much the same for Moses,” he said.
“I’m so confident that Moses is going to be the heavyweight champion of the world. I’m so confident that he’ll defend that belt for as long as he wants.”
A legend backing a ‘special fighter’
Hamed’s words carry weight because he has walked this road.
In the 1990s he was the electric current running through British boxing: outrageous ring walks, explosive power, a showman who could turn a title defence into theatre. The Sheffield-born southpaw didn’t just win; he changed the temperature of the sport.
Now, he looks at Itauma and sees a “special fighter” with a similar clarity of purpose to the one that drove his own rise.
The belief is absolute. The prediction, bold.
Hrgovic: the underdog with pedigree
Across the ring stands Filip Hrgovic, and the bookmakers do not love his chances. On paper, though, he brings the deeper résumé.
The 34-year-old Croatian is an Olympic bronze medallist and has boxed at a higher level than Itauma, with 21 professional fights and only one defeat – a loss to current WBO world champion Daniel Dubois in 2024.
He is taller, older, and more experienced. He has shared rounds with heavier punchers and more seasoned contenders.
Still, the narrative refuses to bend. Even this step up, Hamed insists, will not trouble Itauma for long.
“On paper it’s a test but I don’t think the night that we watch it it will be a test,” he said.
“I think it’s going to be one of Moses’ easiest nights of his career and he’ll win a world title.”
That is the scale of the expectation now surrounding Itauma: a world title fight against a proven Olympian framed not as a crossroads, but as a routine assignment.
The O2 will provide the noise, Hrgovic the resistance, the IBF belt the reward. If Moses Itauma really is “a million times better” than Joshua and Fury, this is where that prophecy has to start looking like reality.
