Tony Bellew: Moses Itauma Can Beat ANYONE except Fury or Usyk
In an exclusive interview with eSportsBets, Tony Bellew weighed in on Moses Itauma’s fascinating knockout victory over Dillian Whyte. ‘The Bomber’ insists that there are only two fighters in the whole world who the 20-year-old wouldn’t be able to beat right now.
He also touched on the legacy of Anthony Joshua and why he feels Dillian Whyte may just have one final boxing match…
Question: Moses Itauma knocked out Dillian Whyte in less than 2 minutes. We expected him to win, but not that quickly. I think even Moses was disappointed in how quickly it was done…What did you make of the performance?
Tony Bellew: The reason for my prediction was because Dillian hasn’t fought anyone with that kind of sharpness and accuracy for so many years. And with that kind of power and accuracy and sharpness, it was always going to happen. So the closer the fight got, the more I was edging towards an Itauma knockout in the first round. I just didn’t want to be too disrespectful to Dillian, because I felt bad for him. There was nothing Dillian could do. He couldn’t get out of the way of Moses’ shots. He tried to defend himself. He was trying to lure Moses in for that counter left hook and Moses wasn’t falling for it. He was aware that every switch, every movement that he’d done, he seen what Ben (Davison) and Lee Whylie had identified in the weaknesses of Dillian Whyte. And he exposed him fully.
The most impressive thing about Moses is how calm he is. He’s a great puncher, he’s very sharp, he’s very active. He’s exceptionally good. But what you can’t teach someone like that, and especially at that age is to remain so calm. He doesn’t panic. He doesn’t get flustered. He doesn’t go head hunting with his shin in the air. He’s cool, he’s calm and he’s relaxed. It was just another walk in the park. There were no big celebrations, he just expected to go and do that.
Q: Moses looks like somebody who will keep his feet on the floor, it’s just steady progress from now on for him you’d think?
A: I don’t think he’s someone who’s entertained that way of life or lifestyle. So I think for me, the sky’s the limit for him. I think he’s an unbelievable talent and as long as he’s tanking along correctly, the right fights at the right time. The next fight for me, if I was looking after Moses Itauma, the next fight I would be looking to make would be someone in the Andy Ruiz kind of bracket. Andy Ruiz, I think is the perfect fight. Andy doesn’t get blown away by anybody. He’s extremely durable. He has got five in his hands. He’s not a one punch dynamite, but he’s strong enough to make you think. And Moses would be guaranteed to get rounds out of Andy Ruiz. Because under no circumstances can Moses go into a fight with Oleksandr Usyk without going past six rounds. That can not happen. It’s not even about the stamina and the engine, it’s more about the thought process and gaining that experience of being there and doing it. No matter how fit you are, it’s in the back of your mind.
My first 12 round fight was for the Commonwealth Title, and thankfully I ended the first round. But I was prepared for 12 rounds for that fight. The next fight, I was defending the Commonwealth Title against Bob Ajisafe and once again I prepared really well, did everything right in the gym. And when I was in rounds 9, 10, 11, I was thinking ‘wow, I can’t believe that I’ve got this far.’ You’ve got to have been there, seen it, got the t-shirt and worn it. And it’s all well and good sparring 15 rounds in the gym. It’s not the same. I explained this to Conor Benn before the Chris Eubank Jr fight because he told me he could fight 20 rounds at whatever pace he wanted. I said ‘Conor, you will tire.’ He said he wouldn’t, but everybody tires.
All fighters have to tire at some point. You have ups and down and Moses is going to have to experience that to understand it. At this moment in time, it’s all his own way. And if anything, he’s a victim of his own success. But I do believe with the ability that he’s got and with the skillset that he has, coupled with how calm he is, he’s a force to be reckoned with.
Q: What makes him so tough to compete with, let alone beat at this point in time?
A: I mean, a massive part is that he’s one of very few southpaws. He’s extremely sharp. He’s very quick. He’s very young. Youth is a real thing. 20 years old, so young. Mike Tyson was 20 years and five months when he won the World Heavyweight Title. So there is still time for him to do it, but I just feel, what’s the rush? Because believe me, once he gets to the level, there’s no going back. He’s at a certain level now with Dillian Whyte, but we all know where Dillian Whyte’s at. I just think, don’t take anything away from Moses Itauma. He could have done that to Dillian in the pomp of his career. Styles make fights and those styles that are always going to want to have a fight with you aren’t necessarily very good defensively. He’s gonna pick holes in them immediately. There’s nobody in the world right now, apart from Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury who he couldn’t pick holes in. Apart from those two, he’s gonna nail anyone. He’s gonna catch anyone. The big fact is, will they nail him first? Only Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury are capable of making him miss and making him pay.
All the other fighters in the division, he will catch them.
Q: Itauma called out Agit Kabayel and Joe Parker after the win…
A: They would be tough fights. But listen, he’s got a good coach in Ben Davison, I rate him highly and I like his style of training. I’ve criticised him over the years, it’s not always been perfect and he acknowledges that and I’ve had a couple conversations with him back and forth, but I do think he’s a good coach. He improves fighters and the most important part of this whole process is video analysis. He knows what these fighters are doing, before they actually do it themselves, he sets patterns for fighters. And he makes it very understandable for the fighters that he’s coaching to pick up on the patterns that these other guys are doing. It’s not always gonna work. Look at Anthony Cacace vs Leigh Wood recently. So you’ve gotta have the fighter who’s capable of doing it, first and foremost, and he’s got to be at the peak of his powers. But ultimately he does have a blueprint and a style and a format that will work 80 to 90% of the time. Like I said, he’s a good coach and he’s one of very few coaches that pays real attention to that video analysis. I used to do it myself. I was always going to be a step behind physically because they were better athletes than me. But if I could catch up with the studying wise and understand what they were doing, understand their mechanics and how they would process things in their mind, the attacks they were making towards me, I would’ve a better chance. And he’s doing the same thing. That’s how it turned out.
Q: Is it outrageous to suggest that Itauma can eclipse Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in terms of their boxing record, maybe not financially? He’s got the talent and the boxing IQ so what stands in his way?
A: He could eclipse their records, absolutely. The kid could go undefeated for his whole career. The kid could win every single belt outright. He has the potential to reign the heavyweight division for years to come. So he has that potential, whether he does it, it’s on him. But will he rise to the popularity levels of Anthony Joshua?
That would be very hard to do. This guy was the darling of British sport. He comes out of the 2012 Olympic games with a gold medal around his neck. He goes into the professional and he just knocks people out. He was basically the millennial Mike Tyson. And he didn’t need to say anything, he just needed to turn up. Now, I’m not saying he was Mike Tyson because of his style. Anthony Joshua does not resemble Mike Tyson in any way, shape, or form, but the way he is similar to Mike Tyson is the huge popularity of himself, and he doesn’t have to say much. Everyone just took to him, he is a good looking boy. You’ve never seen someone as popular in boxing as Anthony Joshua for sure. The face of Lucozade, the face of Hugo Boss, the face of Under Armour. He has been the face of so many different brands, and no other boxer in the world can do that. But he could, because like I said before, he came with that huge appeal with an Olympic gold medal, the unified champion of the world. Then defeats the old monster in Wladimir Klitschko. He brought life back to boxing in this country, 100%. And made stadium fights a regular thing. He wasn’t just going to Wembley, he was going to the Millenium Stadium, going to Tottenham Hotspur’s ground. Then he took boxing to Saudi Arabia. People seem to forget the huge effect he’s had on British boxing. Not just British boxing, but world boxing.
Moses doesn’t seem too phased by that kind of thing. I think he just takes everything in his stride. It’s about boxing. He’s not bothered about marketability. He’s not bothered about anybody’s opinion. He’s just going in and doing his job. He seems a bit more streetwise than someone like Daniel Dubois. I think for someone like Daniel it’s difficult because he’s been processed to act a certain way to do things a certain way and I’d like to see more of just Daniel Dubois. I’m seeing Moses, I’ve seen him behind the scenes. I’ve seen him talking. I’ve seen on a table talking back and forth, with Dillian and in those back and forths in that face off he’s just cool and calm and collected as he is the boxing ring. I’ve seen Daniel sitting at press conference tables looking at other people for what to say. I’d love to sit down with Daniel on his own, maybe with a camera and say ‘Daniel, what do you think about this? What do you think about that?’ And no one wants to be tripping him up. I just want to have a chat and see where his head is at. Because he is one of the nicest boys in the world.
Q: Sunny Edwards claimed on Instagram pre-fight that Whyte had a leg injury and the match would be over rapidly. He did seem to limp to the ring? Is there any truth in that?
A: I heard the whispers during fight week that he had an injury, but it is what it is. He got in the ring. No one wants to hear that you were injured after the event. If you’re injured, it’s quite simple, don’t get in the ring. And that’s all I can say about that. But Dillian has had a fantastic career. To do what he’s done, coming from a white collar background, not much of an amateur pedigree, martial artist background. Dillian’s been right through the mill and earned an absolute fortune. He’s beat world champions. He’s beaten Del Boy (Derek Chisora) twice. He’s had a great career. So it shouldn’t be looked past on what he’s done and what he’s achieved, taking into consideration the experience he’s had. Dillian has been a really good fighter and a really good servant. Perhaps he doesn’t want that to be the last fight of his career. It all depends on what Dillian wants to do. Maybe he’ll come back again. I think we’d all still like to see a third fight with Derek Chisora. Those first two fights were just unbelievable. I don’t know how much either of them have got left, but Del’s given him enough stick in the buildup and in the media and in the background. I’m friends with both of them and very close to Del, I want him to go off into the sunset.
Let’s have a quick word about your fellow Liverpudlian, Nick Ball. It wasn’t an easy challenge against an undefeated Aussie. What’s your take on it?
A: I thought he’d done enough to get the win quite comfortably to be fair. I know it was scored quite close, but I didn’t think it was that close. I thought Nick was superior and thought he landed the harder shots and more of the better punches. I think Nick was dominant. I thought Sam Goodman was game, he had his moments and he got stuck in. And I think he will come again. He’ll learn from that. He was undefeated. So, he suffered a slight setback. But as for Nick Ball, he’s exciting from the start to the finish. He’s nonstop. He’s in your face, he’s throwing punches. He’s not too bothered about what’s coming back.
Q: Do you think Nick needs a bit of a rest? He’s been very active over the past couple of years…
A: I know what Nick does away from boxing and he’s probably the fittest fighter in the whole country. He’s a great advocate for boxing, and he is super fit. This kid owned most of the CrossFit records in this city. He’s a freak and I’ve heard so much about his training regime and his work ethic. It’s frightening. So I look at Nick Ball and think maybe a break isn’t a good thing, he needs to stay sharp and keep ticking over. I know everyone wants this Naoya Inoue fight but I personally don’t want to see that. It’s the completely wrong style for him and Inoue is a monster. The best thing to do when fighting someone like Inoue would be to go straight for the kill. And Nick knows no other way. So if you do that with Inoue, you’re going to walk into what he’s got. And that guy is frightening. He does what it says on the tin. I’d like to see Nick maybe unify, and I think he’s capable of doing that.
Q: Could we see the Rey Vargas rematch?
A: That’d be a good fight. I do think he was harshly done by. Swings and roundabouts, but overall, he’s a brilliant fighter, doing the city very proud.
Q: Canelo and Terrence Crawford. We spoke about it when it was initially announced, and you said you think Bud’s got enough to trouble him and take the win on points. Is that still your view?
A: I still think Terence Crawford wins, I still think he wins handedly.
Q: Do you think he’s gonna come in at his natural weight and then just try and out speed Canelo?
A: I was watching them in a press conference and I seen Canelo saying they want an elite fight. He kept saying just one elite fighter. Has everyone forgotten about the Errol Spence win, because for me, the Errol Spence win was an elite win. Errol Spence was really dominant in the welterweight division, beating everybody and he went in there and beat Errol Spence up, so there’s the first elite win that he’s got and then, if you look at these two fighters, there isn’t that much size difference. The weight will be a bit different, but these fighters have been going through weight divisions quite similar. Canelo started at 10 stone and goes from light welterweight to welterweight division, we’ve all seen the rise of Canelo, people are making out like, like Canelo is a fully fledged light heavyweight or a fully fledged super middleweight.
This guy has been through the divisions. So this guy at the moment he’s the undisputed, unified, super middleweight champion. Is he the biggest super middleweight out there? Absolutely not, no. Is he even the biggest middle weight out there? No. So why is it when Tenrrence Crawford goes in with him, that Terrence Crawford fought now at light middleweight, imagine it would be for one of the titles. He’s got to win over a big light middleweight and he’s got to win over an elite welterweight. At a division that Canelo was at not so long ago. I just think people are writing him off because of the size factor. Canelo is the stronger man. There’s no denying that he’s the bigger puncher. He’s the stronger one.
If the biggest and the strongest man always won the boxing match, it would be boring wouldn’t it and we’d stop watching. Bud’s not consistently always himself, he switches back and forth. He’s got so many different facets to his style. He’s an unbelievably talented fighter, I just think he’ll be too much and I also do think Canelo is not what he once was. The Canelo of old would’ve got rid of William Skull. He brings a country when he fights. It’s powerful what he does.
Q: So you think points, is going to go to the judges?
A: I think probably the judges scorecard, but Canelo will be going for the stoppage. Once this gets past eight rounds, Canelo’s going to fear the cards. From the outside looking in, Canelo seems like he’s got a bit of a bee in his bonnet that Turki Al-Sheikh is favoring Crawford. He’s going “Oh, your daddy he’s this and he’s looking at that” When you look into that, you’re thinking in the back of mind, he’d be like, I don’t want to go to points I don’t need to.
Q: He’s parted company with Don Charles, is the news this morning and he’ll be working with Tony Sims moving forward, which is bit a surprise?
A: Don Charles is a great coach and stood up for Daniel over everyone. Has taken a lot of flack for Daniel, after the incident. Tony Sims is a very good coach. I’ll guarantee you Tony Sims will have no messing around.
Tony Sims will be the boss in that camp. Tony Sims won’t entertain it if he’s not the boss. I guarantee that. In my professional career I had Tony Sims in my corner for one of them, and I’ve always got on great with Tony Sims, really good coach and a really good man, to be honest. He’s a proper boxing man and he will not have any messing around. He will not have any shitgoing on behind the scenes, he will be very hands on.
Daniel Dubois greatest ally and asset is his father. because that’s who he looks to in the first time of trouble. His father is the first person he looks to, you’re not gonna change that, you’re definitely not gonna change it overnight.
Maybe that will change over a good period of time with Tony, but. It’s not gonna change very quickly, we don’t expect to see that anytime soon.
Q: Tank and Lamont Roach, the rematch doesn’t look to be happening. Do you think Tank seems to be letting the best years of his career slip away?
A: He is letting his best years of his career slip away and being with PBC is a hindrance too. He needs to be active, he needs to be out there. I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again, I think Tank is the most exciting fighter in the world. When tank’s in a ring, when he’s on the money, he’s frightening, he really is. We just need to see him in the ring. Imagine Tank Davies vs Nick Ball, that would be frightening. But like I said before, I just don’t know where Tanks head is at the minute.
He’s probably amassed a small fortune in a short space of time as a fighter and it lets you know that, does he need boxing? Probably not, no. is he forcing, is he forcing to get back in the ring, I don’t know. You see him fall out with anyone and everyone all the time. Whether it’s his closest compatriots, Floyd Mayweather, I’ve seen him fall out with him. But Al Haymon seems to keep all those fighters. I don’t know how but he does. And I think he’s doing it now with Tank.
Q: Floyd Mayweather, his beef with Roy Jones Jr. You keeping any tabs on that. I think what happened was that Roy Jones Jr claimed that a prime Sugar Ray Leonard would’ve beaten a prime of Floyd Mayweather and that got Floyd’s backup?
A: It’s opinions that everyone’s entitled to. We’ll never know that’s the fact of it. The thing is Sugar Ray’s resume is one of the greatest resumes boxing has ever seen. So, you know, when you’ve got two victories over Thomas Hearns, a victory over Roberto Duran, a victory over Marvin Hagler, Donny Lalonde, which was a great comeback fight, it just lets you know.
The kind of caliber that he was mixing, all these fights he’s beaten over the years are freaks. Floyd, I know we talk about the 50 and 0 and everything that he’s done. Ultimately, Floyd’s career will be looked upon back upon over time as, yes, you went 50 and 0, but people will always whinge about when he beat them at what stage they were at and he did cherry pick them it can’t be denied and I’m a big fan Floyd Mayweather, I think Floyd’s a genius and he’s remarkable. He’s one of the all time greats but he did cherry pick the fights as and when he wanted to.
You can blame him for that because there were opportunities where could, if he wanted to, the minute he chooses to fight De la Hoya and beats Del La Hoya in a really close fight, by the way. He becomes the boss, after he beats Del La Hoya, he’s in a position to fight everyone, anyone. So he could have went in with the guy who then had beat Beat De La Hoya previously, who was Mosley, he should have chose Sugar Shane, right after Sugar Shane beat Del La Hoya, because then he beat Del La Hoya, so it’s all of these kind of fights then you could have chose to jump on your fighters like you know, Vernon Forrest who then defeated Shane Mosley. You could have chosen to fight someone like Antonio Margarito, who I absolutely despise to be honest, you could have chosen to jump on Margarito, after he defeated Cotto. You could have chosen to fight Manny Pacquiao in his prime, all of these things come into play.
Q: Do you think in his mind he always had that. 50 un beaten in his head and he was thinking, this is how I’m gonna get there and planning my path?
A: You’ve gotta also look at the 50th fight came against the man who was having his professional boxing debut. So if your 49 and 0 and your 50th ever fight comes against a guy making his professional debut, the writings are already on the wall.
Q: Malik Scott has revealed that if the timing is right, we will see Jake Paul fight Deontay Wilder. That fight makes a lot more sense than Jake fighting Anthony Joshua?
A: I don’t know. I’ve got nothing against Paul. He’s a very smart businessman. Everywhere I go, his name’s mentioned to me. That means he’s doing a fantastic job of his career. But you’re asking me from a boxer’s perspective. It’s madness. It’s dangerous madness. One right hand from the English cruiseweight champion could send them into orbit. He hasn’t been hit by an active, young, real fight.
Q: (Mentions Froch’s theory about contract clauses)
A: That’s one thing that I’ll heavily dispute. There’s no way. Carl’s got a few crazy theories. Carl still believes the world’s flat. Under no circumstances are any of these Jake Paul fights fake. No chance whatsoever. These are all real fights. He’s just really smart at matchmaking and I’ll tip my hat to him for that. He has lost a professional fight against Tommy Fury.
Could you imagine the uproar we’d be causing if Tommy Fury got in the ring and said I want to fight Anthony. The world would collapse. So why are we entertaining Jake Paul getting in there? No one would entertain Tommy Fury and he’s beat him. It’s not ’cause we’re hearing it. It’s because we’re seeing the snippets that Tommy’s not active at all, Tommy’s not out there. It’s because we’re seeing it. He’s beaten fighters like Julio Chavez Junior, a former world middleweight champion.
He’s beaten him. He’s beaten Anderson Silver, UFC star. He’s beaten Chavez also. So he’s going in there and he’s getting these jobs done against fighters who propel his name. Is he beating them genuinely? Absolutely yes. He beat Mike Tyson. He beat him up and if anything, he took it easy on Mike Tyson. I watched it. He took it easy. In the last round, he could’ve stopped Mike. He could’ve stopped Mike Tyson that last round, 100% and he didn’t, he held back out of respect, and that made me actually respect him more.
That showed me that he didn’t actually want to hurt the old guy. You’ve gotta have a degree of respect for that. I don’t like the fact that he fought him, I’m not gonna lie. But I do respect that he didn’t want to actually hit him. That’s the one thing I’ve gotta give him a lot of credit for.
Q: Former Olympic gold medalist France’s Tony Yoka claims he will fight AJ in Ghana. Would that make sense to get AJ back in contention? Lost to Bakole & Carlos Takam
A: I just wanna see Josh back in the ring. Boxing misses him. Boxing needs him. I just don’t know how much he needs boxing. I suppose a part of him does. Someone like Joshua, he likes the day to day routine. He likes waking up and knowing, I’m gonna be here, then I’m gonna be training, then I’m gonna be doing that. I’m gonna be sparring him. That’s the part that has fights he’s missed the most when it stops.
Once again, such a magnificent career. I don’t actually know what he’s got left to prove or what he’s got left to do for himself. I’m sure he’ll be in shape. Because he’s a prime, brilliantly conditioned athlete. And he’s always in shape, so I’m not sure what he’s doing or where he’s going, but he’s always in shape. He’s always ready. I know he was getting over that injury, the operation that he had on his arm or elbow, whatever it was.
I look forward to seeing him back in the ring. When he does get back in the ring, I just wanna see him get in the ring and let his hands go. When he’s letting his hands go, there’s not many better than him in the world.
Q: Ebanie Bridges is training with Kell Brook ahead of a comeback fight in December with Jake MPaul’s MVP promotions after having her baby. Are you surprised by that?
A: So is Kell training her now as well? Wow. Okay, good on her. Best of luck to them.
Q: Fantasy fight of the month: Evander Holyfield vs Oleksandr Usyk. Who wins and how?
A: I used to think Evander Holyfield would beat any cruiserweight ever but I don’t. I think Usyk would beat him. I think the foot movement will be too much. Would’ve had to be when he was at cruiserweight. He couldn’t come back down. Oleksanr Usyk cannot come back down to cruiserweight and be and be as effective. It will not work well. I know what it’s like going to heavyweight. I was at Heavy for two years with the Haye fights. Your body adjusts to being at the weight. You absorb punches better in training camp. Everything goes great. He can never go near 90 kilos again. Holyfield unified the cruise weight division, uh, and then he took two years out, then bulked up. Or it might have been in 18 months.
Q: (So Usyk wins at heavyweight and cruiserweight?)
A: Yeah. It’s not that he’s levels ahead. Evander Holyfield is a truly amazing fighter. Usyk just won’t engage him. He’ll move and box. Usyk will do to Holyfield the way he boxed Gassiev. He will move. He will not let your heads and me will not let you. The best performance of his career. Unbelievable performance. He’s a star and he adapts to the opponents that he’s facing.
Look at Oleksandr Usyk against Anthony Joshua. And look at Oleksandr Usyk against Daniel Dubois in that rematch. They’re two completely different fighters. Look at, look at Usyk against Tyson Fury in the first fight. Look at him against Dubois in that fight. He’s a lot heavier for Dubois in the second fight, with the Fury fight, he’s lighter, he’s sharper. He’s putting constant front foot pressure, which we’ve never seen him do before. He adapts and changes for every single fight for every single opponent. And I just think he’d do the same with Holyfield. I actually think Tyson has a better chance than Holyfield.
Q: We know Muhammad Ali is your icon – if you had one question for him, what would it be?
A: What does he believe was the most important decision he made in his career? That’s what I’m asking him. And I would probably think he would say, not going to Vietnam. Does he regret that? I know it would be an absolute no, but it would be nice to hear him talk about how that hurt him at the time. You’ve gotta remember, this was the most famous man in the whole world, and then had his country turn on him.
I’d say a large population of the country turned on him. And gave up the most famous division in the world, the heavyweight champion in the world. It’s the most famous man in the world, Muhammad Ali. And he just went, I don’t want to do this no more because. I don’t believe in war against people who have got no war with me.
Bravest man to walk the face of the earth. Does anybody believe that Lionel Messi or Christino Ronaldo would do what Mohammed Ali did then? Nobody, nobody in this sport. But just purely for your personal beliefs.
He was never gonna go on the front line of the war zone. Never in a million years. All he probably would have done is put a uniform on, made the speech, and then walked away. But that cost him tens of hundreds of millions of pounds. And at that time then that’s like billions now. He’s a legend and a king
Since: August 14, 2025
