Itauma told ‘anything other than becoming world champion is a failure’ with Brit ‘more impressive than Joshua and Fury’

DAVID HAYE is more impressed by the talent of Moses Itauma than he has been with any other heavyweight – including Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury.

Itauma debuted at 18 and was already being dubbed Britain’s answer to a prime Mike Tyson – who became the youngest heavyweight world champion ever at 20.

Slovakian-born and Kent-raised Itauma even wanted to break Iron Mike’s record which has stood for nearly 40 years.

He fell short but Haye – who reigned at cruiserweight and heavyweight – says it is only a matter of time until he has gold around his waist.

The Hayemaker retired in 2018 when AJ and Fury were at their brilliant world championship best.

But neither British legend has caught his eye as much as 20-year-old KO starlet Itauma.  

Haye told SunSport, courtesy of HighBet : “Way more impressed, way more impressed with him than any of the others. 

“He’s the best guy coming through that I’ve seen. He looks as good as you’re gonna get. He looks as good as I’ve ever seen.

“I can’t think of another fighter in that few heavyweight fights that has looked as devastating and hasn’t shown any chink in the armour.

“Everything looks on point, he’s got the right mindset. You don’t hear about him out partying and all that bulls***.

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“He was focused on becoming the youngest ever heavyweight champion and he wants to do some crazy stuff in a sport.

“Anything other than becoming world heavyweight champion would be a complete failure. I love that.

“I love the fact that he’s not in it to be the British champion, the European champion. I’m sure just winning the world title wouldn’t be enough.

Itauma – who has 10 KO’s in his 12 wins – steps up for his biggest test to date on Saturday in Riyadh against Dillian Whyte.

And if he takes out ex-WBC title challenger Whyte in dominant fashion – Haye reckons Itauma could be the only man capable of mounting a real threat to Oleksandr Usyk’s throne.

He said: “You can’t even think about Usyk because we don’t know if he can beat Dillian.

“But, if he smashes Dillian in a couple of rounds, we all got to have that conversation. We all wanna say, is it too soon or is it perfect?

“Is he just ready right now? If he gets rid of Dillian in a few rounds, I’d say he’s got a shot. He’s got a better shot than most.

“I’d say the only person who’s got a better shot than him would be Derek Chisora because Derek Chisora’s already done it once.

He’s the best guy coming through that I’ve seen. He looks as good as you’re gonna get. He looks as good as I’ve ever seen.

David Haye on Moses Itauma

“He’s already been in there and pushed the hardest out of any heavyweight.

“So if he can get rid of Dillian in a few rounds and not have a life and death, then yeah, cool. Who else is there to beat Usyk?”

Whyte comes into the bout as a huge underdog and inactive at the top level – with his most meaningful win coming in 2022 against Jermaine Franklin.

He was due to rematch Joshua – who he lost to in 2015 – back in August 2023 but Whyte was pulled out amid a doping breach.

He returned an “adverse finding” in his pre-fight drug test – which was later put down to a “contaminated” supplement meaning he served no ban.

Whyte continued his career with underwhelming wins over Christian Hammer in Ireland and Ebenezer Tetteh in Gibraltar last year.

So Haye – who used to spar Whyte – hailed the Brixton Body Snatcher for taking on red-hot favourite Itauma after a period in the cold.

‘It’s bordering disrespectful’

He said: “Dillian has been massively overlooked here. I think some of the stuff I’ve heard, it’s bordering disrespectful.

“People seem to have a short memory about the Joseph Parker victory.

“The Chisora victories in epic fights that everyone had a great night of entertainment and after strength of his last two performances, he didn’t look that great.

“He looked like his best days are behind him and at the start, I thought he was just gonna go through the motions and just assume he’ll be good enough.

“But seeing the shape he’s coming, looking at his body, that looks like a prime Dillian Whyte.

“That looks like Dillian Whyte that turned up to fight Chisora because he knew he was in for a battle.

“He knew that wasn’t going to be nice and he was mentally prepared for a tough, tough battle.

“And Moses has all the potential but potentials don’t win world titles performances do, proving it against world-class opposition.

“So this is his first opportunity to fight a world-class heavyweight who is genuinely coming to win not turning up for a paycheck, he’s coming to win.

“And Moses, he may have felt that energy a little bit in his career, but he would never have felt it like it’s gonna feel on Saturday.”