Tony Bellew naming Moses Itauma as Daniel Dubois‘s solely true risk leans closely on uncooked potential whereas ignoring what simply occurred within the ring. Filip Hrgovic stopped Itauma in 9 rounds, but Bellew expects the teenager to topple a champion who dismantled Hrgovic with ease.
Bellew backed Dubois to run by the heavyweight elite, carving out only one exception.
“The one individual I feel who’s going to do him [Dubois] is Moses,” mentioned Bellew to Battle Your Nook.
That decision glides proper previous the roughest query of the struggle. What occurs when Itauma’s hand velocity runs out of unpolluted targets, and Dubois retains strolling him down?
Dubois has felt the sting of getting his limitations placed on show. Joe Joyce wore him down with a relentless jab again in 2020, whereas Oleksandr Usyk repeatedly punished his struggles towards fleet-footed southpaws. These setbacks clarify Bellew’s intrigue, however additionally they spotlight the huge hole between presenting a tough look and holding that kind by deep water.
Itauma brings a southpaw look, however he lacks Usyk’s ring IQ, engine, or veteran poise. Towards Hrgovic, expertise alone failed to hold him previous spherical 9. Dubois stopped that exact same opponent in 2024. Whereas triangle principle by no means settles a struggle, these outcomes carry much more weight than an off-the-cuff nod to hurry.
The true tactical riddle sits with Itauma’s motion. He should slip Dubois’s heavy artillery with out draining his gasoline tank alongside the ropes. Sharp bursts can disrupt Dubois early, however surviving an advancing sledgehammer spherical after spherical calls for fixed self-discipline. Circling away eats up power, particularly if the punches coming again fail to push the champion onto his again foot.
Dubois wiping out Fabio Wardley doesn’t imply he has solved each stylistic puzzle. On the similar time, Itauma’s vibrant future doesn’t wipe away the robust flaws Hrgovic uncovered.
Bellew can again his hunch, however labeling Itauma the division’s lone hazard grants enormous credit score to a prospect contemporary off a stoppage loss. Itauma nonetheless has to show he mounted these breakdowns earlier than anybody crowns him the person to beat Dubois.
