MOSES ITAUMA has told Tyson Fury to hit him up for Oleksandr Usyk sparring and not make the same mistake Anthony Joshua did.
The 18-year-old heavyweight prodigy is 6ft 3in southpaw with mind-boggling movement and angles – just like Ukraine’s 36-year-old WBA, IBF and WBO world champion.
But he only did a few rounds with the London 2012 Olympic legend ahead of the first points loss – by accident – and none for the second.
Over 24 rounds, AJ – who admitted to hating lefties – could work out the timing and techniques of the gap-toothed genius and – having seen some of his preparation – Itauma was not surprised.
So he has been asking Frank Warren and BT sport stablemate Tyson Fury to take up an offer for ideal sparring sessions before his possible April 29 undisputed showdown with Usyk.
Ahead of his pro debut against Marcel Bode at Wembley arena on Saturday night, the Kent wonderkid told SunSport: “The sparring that AJ had for the Usyk fight seemed wrong.
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“When I was there, he had a 6ft 10in German southpaw, and I’m thinking ‘why would you have that?’
“But he would only spar six rounds, then do three rounds on the bag, three rounds on the pads. He didn’t really do a full 12-round spar.
“But the sparring he had was mediocre.
“I didn’t get called back for the second fight but I wasn’t really meant to spar him for the first one, it was coincidental.
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“I was training up in Sheffield when he was training, then when his team asked me if I wanted to spar. I said, ‘why not?'”
Itauma’s freakish talents have already earned him priceless training sessions with British stars like Lawrence Okolie, Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce, often he would arrive at their London gyms still in his school uniform, before schooling them.
It’s a nightmare finding right-leading heavyweights around the world, let alone in England.
So he was baffled AJ spurned him and hopes the 34-year–old Gypsy King snaps up his offer.
He revealed: “I was quite confused Joshua’s team never brought me back, because around that time I was always struggling to get fights and good sparring. But I am not stressing about that.
“I want to spar Fury, if he gets the Usyk fight, definitely.
“I’ve been asking to do a few rounds with Fury, so that would be good.”
Itauma turned 18 on December 28 and trained at mentor Dan Woledge’s Chatham gym, with SunSport and providing balloons and bunting.
The red-hot prospect signed pro terms with manager Francis Warren that day and has dreams of beating Mike Tyson’s record of becoming history’s youngest-ever heavyweight king, at 22 years and four months.
Everyone inside the sport is excited about the boy-in-a-man’s-body who blitzed the most recent European Youth Champions with four first-round knockouts.
But he’s taking everything in his giant southpaw stride.
In his baritone boom, with deadpan delivery, he said: “I don’t feel any different to when I was 17, I feel exactly the same.
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“I am not one for parties, nightclubs or drinking, so it won’t make any difference to me.
“My new year resolution was to stick to exactly what I did last year. It’s an easy one to stick to.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
