Explosive Moses Itauma Stops Ilja Mezencev In Two
May 18, 2024 • 2:50 PM ET
Moses Itauma provided the latest demonstration of his considerable potential by stopping the overmatched Ilja Mezencev in two rounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
On the undercard of the undisputed heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk at the Kingdom Arena, the heavyweight Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren has predicted will prove his long-term successor at the top of the division recorded his ninth professional win.
Itauma, 19, hurt Germany’s Mezencev throughout the opening round, including when four powerful left hooks and a push forced the 28 year old towards the bottom rope, when the referee Howard Foster rightly refused to award a knockdown.
The conclusion came 50 seconds into the second, when an eye-catching combination ended with the explosive right hand that heavily dropped Mezencev, who though successful in returning to his feet remained unsteady and required Foster’s intervention before another punch was thrown. The victory was the seventh Itauma has recorded inside the distance.
His fellow Briton Mark Chamberlain had by then stopped Joshua Oluwaseun Wahab in the opening round of their lightweight contest. Wahab had already been down once when the finish came after two minutes and 42 seconds, at which point he was given medical attention.
Declan Warrington has been writing about boxing for the British and Irish national newspapers since 2010. He is also a long-term contributor to Boxing News, Boxing News Presents and Talksport, and formerly the boxing correspondent for the Press Association, a pundit for BoxNation and a regular contributor to Boxing Monthly, Sport and The Ring, among other publications. In 2023, he conducted the interviews and wrote the script for the audio documentary “Froch-Groves: The Definitive Story”; he is also a member of the BWAA.
