Moses Itauma has 146 days left to break Mike Tyson’s record as boxing’s youngest heavyweight champion ever. In 1986, at the age of 20 years and 145 days, Tyson stopped Trevor Berbick in the second round to win the WBC heavyweight title.
Itauma is just two days out from his 20th birthday. Unless something dramatic happens, such as the WBO title being relinquished (Itauma is ranked No. 6), Joseph Parker withdrawing from his championship clash with Daniel Dubois on short notice, or an even less likely scenario of unified heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk choosing Itauma as his next opponent, the young prospect likely won’t get the chance to break Tyson’s record in 2025, but he could still go on to be the best heavyweight of the next decade.
Itauma turned professional in January 2023 at 18 with a 24-0 amateur record and tremendous hype behind him. He started 2024 at 7-0 and stepped up to eight-rounders against late replacement Dan Garber. Garber was understandably reluctant to take the fight, already aware of Itauma’s potential.
“I think in the next 15 years, his name is going to be mentioned alongside Lennox Lewis,” Garber told SWS Boxing before facing Itauma. “This kid is special.”
Itauma needed just two minutes to dispatch Garber in London and only two rounds to take out Ilja Mezencev three months later in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Next for Itauma was durable Polish fighter Mariusz Wach. Thirteen months prior, Wach had extended British title challenger Frazer Clarke the 10-round distance, and he was a veteran name many boxing pundits thought could give Itauma some much-needed rounds.
But Wach was no match for Itauma’s speed, precision and footwork, and he too failed to make it out of the second stanza. That win earned the Slovakian-born British pugilist his No. 6 spot in the WBO rankings and two other world rankings — a WBA No. 10 position and a No. 14 placement with the IBF.