Comments Thread For: Moses Itauma set to face Mike Balogun in Glasgow on May 24

[Nash out]

Exactly right!

Been attending fights and getting to know the athletes for 54 years. I will never understand the mentality of "Fans" who honestly beleive that anyone ranked below 10 is a "Bum".
But I continue to post here in order to provide a unique perspective.


Here is one:


I can easily tell who has boxed, or been around the gyms and the fighters; from those who simply know boxing from their electronic devices.
So Easy to tell the difference.


Mike Balogun is an exceptional athlete and a fitness fanatic. He played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners. He was signed as a free agent by the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL. He has also played for the Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Buffalo Bills and the Dallas Cowboys. In Boxing, he's been in hard training for 10 years and sports a very good 21-1 record with 16 knockouts. He's 240 pounds of solid muscle and can very, very likely beat the **** out of any man in the NFL or the IRL.

He could have adjusted his training, gone into MMA and become a top contender there, but he has too much self esteem to be treated like that and paid like that as a top 10er; so he took the bigger risk for the bigger reward.


That isn't enough to hang with a child prodigy like Moses Itauma. I'm not saying that it is.......But NOBODY that the typical posters here hang around with would meet him in a dark alley and come out in one piece. Believe it.. Respect the warriors.

The Great Nash actually did bump into Mike Balogun in a dark alley. It was just the two of us, intense music played in the background, Balogun came up to Nash pushed him against the wall and said "I'm going to punch you through this wall." Nash replied, 'Hold on, Mike, don't you know who I am?" Balogun paused, he suddenly realised that he was in the presence of greatness. "Holy ****, you're the Great Nash! I'm so sorry, Your Majesty." Nash replied, "Don't worry, Mike, it happens to the best of us. I once did similar with Charlie Zelenoff in Astro Burger." Balogun responded, "I'm a huge fan of you, Nash, we all are in the boxing game. If there is anything I can do for you, just let me know." "Actually, there is." responded Nash. "I want you to find out if the real Deontay Wilder really is living in secret with 2Pac after his Clone lost to Parker and Zhang." "I'm on it. See you around Nash."

Mike Balogun left the scene and although we have not seen each other since, this very real story shows that at least this poster on here could meet Mike Balogun in a dark alley and leave unscathed. Nash out - His Majesty

[PRINCEKOOL]

Certain folk in the boxing community completely overrate American base Heavyweight fighters in today's era 'Mike Balogun is not a top level fighter even in America. And this fight is not a step up for Moses Itauma, it is quite simply a stay busy fight. Most likely while? Queensbury and Frank Warren try to land a more significant fight for him later in the year'.

It makes perfect sense to me? To charted Moses Itauma's career in stages, and build towards his big challenges i.e. Moses Itauma's last contest against Dempsey Mckean, was clearly one of his first legitimate test. It was a fight with potential high jeopardy, because Mckean had proven himself to be a solid Heavyweight fighter'.

Itauma blasted Mckean out inside one round, but that was always going to be a possibility in the Heavyweight Division 'People in the boxing community will only know if Moses Itauma has genuine all round game, when he is confronted with a variation of style and situations. Which he will then have to overcome inside the ring. So far he has only proven, that his power is dangerous. But in my opinion? That is nothing spectacular, or unprecedented'.

At any given time there are most likely many Heavyweight fighters 'Who can whack with serious power, enough to stop fighters in their tracks. What separates fighters when you move up the levels, is their skill for skill game'.

I have personally not bought into the narrative that Moses Itauma is the equivalent of Mike Tyson in today's boxing era 'Mike Tyson in my opinion in his lead up to winning his first World title, was competing in a superior Heavyweight era'.

Note: Mitch Blood Green, and James Quick Tillis were clearly skill for skill 'Better fighters than anybody Moses Itauma has fought in his career to this point'.

There are many British and European Heavyweight fighters 'That in my opinion would be better suited to gauge Moses Itauma's development as a fighter, than Mike Balogun. That is why I suspect the fight is just a ticking over fight, while inside the gymnasium Itauma and his team are working towards a more difficult challenge'.

To conclude: So, I have not really got much criticism over this fight 'I think a fighter like Joe Joyce, would have no issue in fighting Moses Itauma. And I think that level of a challenge, would be a more optimal way to gauge Moses Itauma's ability. Joe Joyce may have been just about losing his recent fights, but his opponents have all been embroiled in a brutal contest. Both Derek Chisora and Filip Hrgovic sustained heavy damaged in their fights against Joe Joyce'.

I still think Joe Joyce is a capable and difficult fighter to beat for the large majority of Heavyweight fighters in the game 'Which makes him a good candidate for Moses Itauma. The fight would also be a great opportunity, as both fighters have a lot to gain from potentially wining the fight' etc.

[Dorrian_Grey]

I'm going to see this card in person, so I'm personally pretty excited to see Itauma in person. We don't really ever get any quality HWs in Scotland. Ever.

[Willow The Wisp]

Itauma has until May 19 to break Tyson's record of youngest to win a World Title claimant's belt at 20 years, 4 months, when Tyson beat Trevor Berbick on 11/22/86.
Of course, to get technical, Tyson most certainly did not actually become THE world's champion until 06/27/88 when he lifted the real title from Michael Spinks; but either way; the brainstrust for Moses Itauma is free to drop the early PR line about that record now, and focus on a sound development path for their charge.

Balogun is a world class athlete and a dedicated fighter, but this is likely a 1 or 2 round fight, and we might expect to see the boy wonder back in the ring twice this summer, with any luck.