Can Itauma break Mike Tyson’s record?

Moses Itauma has people wondering if he will break Mike Tyson’s record of becoming the youngest heavyweight champion of the world. The fringe contender Itauma (11-0, 9 KOs) recently turned 20 on Dec. 28, meaning he has four months to break Tyson’s record.

Itauma stopped 34-year-old Dempsey McKean (22-2, 14 KOs) in the second round on the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk 2 card in Riyadh. The event aired on DAZN PPV.

Chasing Tyson

Tyson was 20 years and four months old when he defeated WBC Heavyweight Champion Trevor Berbick in the second round on November 22, 1986. This was ‘Iron’ Mike’s 28th professional fight, and he has faced a better opposition than Itauma. This is a big difference.

The only semi-notable opponents Itauma has faced are 45-year-old Mariuz Wach and Demsey McKean. Prior to his match against Itauma, Wach had lost eight of his previous 12 bouts. McKean had been inactive for 16 months and was coming off a 12-hour knockout loss to Filip Hrgovic.

Itauma has matched VERY carefully, as has his brother, Karol Itauma, before getting knocked out when facing a decent opponent.

Promoter Frank Warren said he wants Itauma to win a share of one of the heavyweight titles in 2025. Or he will chase the “regular” WBA champion. Kubrat Pulev or a temporary belt. Joseph Parker has the interim title of the OMB. However, Warren is unlikely to put Itauma with him this year due to the high probability that he will lose.

Even the 43-year-old Pulev could be too much for Itauma because the Bulgarian still has very impressive technical skills that cannot be prepared for on a field.

Brother’s shadow

Itauma is a good base slugger, but he lacks experience against anything remotely resembling a top-tier slugger. If he’s thrown with a shark-like Parker or Oleksandr Usyk, he’ll be boxed out and probably knocked out, just like his brother Karol Itauma was when he faced 2008 Olympian Ezequiel Maderna in 2023.

Before that fight, everyone was excited about Karol, but he was completely out of his depth when he took on Maderna. Today, Karol is never heard of again. The same could happen to Moses Itauma if he takes on a good heavyweight.

“That’s a fair analogy,” promoter Frank Warren said BoxNation when the interviewer told him he hadn’t seen anyone like Moses Itauma since Mike Tyson started his career. “I figured he would win the fight (Demsey McKean), but I thought he would get a few rounds like in the previous fight (Mariusz Wach, 45).

“The power is unbelievable, and how relaxed he is when he’s throwing his punches. He’s got a great punch, a good boxing brain and he did a great job (knocking McKean out in the first round). Although the fights didn’t last that long, he seemed the most composed of them all.

“He has a very good head on his shoulders and a great team around him. He can fight. There is no doubt about it. He could literally do whatever he wanted,” Warren said when asked what Moses Itauma can do in 2025.

Let’s put things into perspective a bit. McKean had been out of the ring for 16 months and was coming off a knockout loss to Hrgovic. Before that, McKean had never beaten anyone of note in his 10-year career. All of his wins have come against non-world class opponents.

“No, I don’t want to throw it away, especially with a young fighter, throwing them to the bottom. I think whoever he’s fighting, whoever it is and whatever level they’re at, he gives them a huge problem,” Warren said.

“I want to see him win a version of the (heavyweight) title, and I want to see a big domestic mess down the road, maybe between Daniel (Dubois) and him and whoever’s standing. Yeah, all those guys. All those fights are there to be done. It’s so exciting.

“The combinations of different decks that can be made. It’s just great,” Warren said of potential fights with Itauma.

Will Moses Itauma be world champion at the end of 2025? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/oN0zasEkIj

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) January 3, 2025