British Mike Tyson Itauma on course to break icons record with big KO

18-year-old Moses Itauma is hoping to break Mike Tyson’s record for the youngest world heavyweight champion in the history of the sport (20 years old). And the Brit got off to flying start to his professional career by flattening Marcel Bode in the opening 23 seconds of his debut.

A lot was made of Itauma’s potential in the lead-up to fight night this evening. The young Brit, who has won European and World honours as an amateur, recently signed with Frank Warren’s Queensbury Promotions and was instantly thrust into the limelight in the co-main event slot for tonight’s blockbuster Artur Beterbiev vs Anthony Yarde fight night card.

His impact was instant, landing a beautiful straight left to the body of his 2-1 foe before following it up to the head to score a knockdown in the opening 15 seconds. Bode, who has been stopped once before, was unable to beat the count as the fight was waved before it could even get going.

By comparison, when Tyson made his pro debut, also at 18, it took him one minute and forty-seven seconds to dispatch of Hector Mercedes at the Plaza Convention Center in New York. 

“Youngest ever world heavyweight champion is in my mid-term goals but it is something that I can believe I can achieve before 2025. It is not what I am thinking about right of this second, but I want to let that come once I have grown as a professional. I have gone from not having any press at all to this and it is crazy.

“I am in the right place because Frank Warren has all the other big heavyweights at the moment so I think I have a bright future.” Tyson knocked out Trevor Berbick to win the WBC world heavyweight championship in November 1986 at 20 and has remained in the history books ever since. Itauma will be hoping that won’t be the case for much longer.