First things first. Moses is a right handed southpaw. Most right handers lead with their left. Not this kid.
Anyways, the 50/50 fight is dead and really has been for a while now. Maybe since boxers began promoting themselves. The win is in the matchup, not the fight. And it looks like a young, intelligent. southpaw (WHO HAPPENS TO BE RIGHT HANDED BUT WAS TAUGHT TO LEAD WITH HIS RIGHT HAND, not his left. AHEM)… Well, he’s got a very good matchmaker.
What’s happening in this young man’s life, right now, is not magic. This is how it’s supposed to happen. Everyone is batting .1000. Including the fighter.
Now there is an art to developing a fighter and making him look great… The Trainer. The Manager. The Promoter. The Matchmaker, need to align and if they do, as a fighter, you are pretty much guaranteed to be successful and considerably rich in today’s boxing.
Provided the fighter also brings the talent… or something closely resembling it.
Enter Moses “TheTrauma” Itauma. He and his team are obviously on the same page.
Trainer: Ben Davidson
Promoter and Manager and Matchmaker: Frank Warren
Problem solved. The fewer chefs in the kitchen, the better.
In order to find a matchmaker, promoter, manager like Itauma’s, you need to be an exceptional fighter in the first place, otherwise you’re limited in your marketability and success.
Nobody wants to risk great effort on limited talent.
The art of boxing’s “holy trinity” (promoter, manager, matchmaker) is in making the paying public think they’re seeing the future superstar of boxing early, or there’s a 50/50 chance of either fighter winning. But word to the wise, 50/50 fights only happen when the term “unification” or “super fight” precedes it. And even then… meh.
That really is the only time you’ll see a 50/50 fight anymore.
But the point of this piece is Moses…
Did I mention Moses is RIGHT HANDED but fights out of the SOUTHPAW stance? I can’t remember right now, but I know someone extremely knowledgeable about boxing (he wears an eye patch cuz he zigged when he should’ve zagged) was mentioning how leading with your coordinated hand is the superior way to fight… But conversely a whole bunch of his Facebook friends were in staunch denial.
Why is this such an important point you might ask…?
Have you seen the fists on this kid, Moses? His hands are so good… they are amongst the most articulate and accurate hands I’ve seen as of late (In the heavyweight division). Only Usyk is above him in this category… and before Usyk, in the heavyweight division, you have to go back to, Tyson, Holyfield, Ibeabuchi, Bowe, Foreman etc, to see a heavyweight with such accuracy, diversity, pop and fistic intelligence. It’s like he’s got brains in his hands.
This is one of the incredible benefits of leading with your dominant side… But we won’t go down that road for now. I don’t want to insult anyone by gloating.
I TOLD YA SO!
Right handers that lead with their right… Hagler, Crawford, Shakur Stevenson, Prince Hamed. Shhhh, there are more.
Ok… un-shhhh… Is it true Mike Tyson is left handed and fought with his dominant hand forward? Which would be out of the orthodox stance…
The short answer is YES!
What I like about Itauma: Being a heavyweight doesn’t limit his agility. Like the heavyweights of the 70’s, he doesn’t fight like “a big man”. At some point in the 80’s heavyweights as a whole began to “conserve energy” and they became more conservative in style and effort… and then they started holding and hugging more… It was painful to watch. Happy days are here again, Usyk and Itauma are Heavyweights that fight like welterweights… We are moving back to the perfect blend of agility, dexterity and power.
The 1st knockdown vs Franklin last night, decoy left to the body, power right jab, was beautiful… absolutely perfect… and it didn’t have to be forced to the jaw… it was to the temple… jackpot!
The power left counter over Franklin’s right was beautiful bust juuuust, missed. But that uppercut… Worst punch to get hit with in boxing… Moses slid back and forget about “letting my people go” he let his hands go… a perfect left uppercut off the fade. Caught Franklin on the point of the chin and that was it.
With Usyk champ and Moses a high contender, The heavyweight division is coming out of its’ 20 year malaise and beginning to look worthy of some major praise again.
100%SILK