Moses Itauma spent much of his young career looking like a fighter who might never need to learn how to go the distance.
That was the seduction of the comparison with Mike Tyson.
The hands were unusually fast for a heavyweight. The power came from both sides. Opponents were not merely beaten; many were removed from the fight before they had time to settle. By August, Itauma had stopped 12 of his 14 professional opponents and was being positioned as the heir to Britain’s heavyweight throne. ESPN noted that 11 of his first 13 opponents had been stopped inside two rounds.
Then came Filip Hrgović.
And suddenly, the most important fight of Itauma’s career was not about whether he could knock someone out.
