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Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte: Boxing's biggest age gaps
Moses Itauma will be hoping to prove himself as a worthy contender on the world stage when he takes on Dillian Whyte this weekend in Saudi Arabia
At only 20 years old, Itauma has shot into superstardom faster than we have seen any heavyweight since Mike Tyson.
The Slovakian-born Brit even had his eye on Tyson’s record of the youngest heavyweight champion ever.
But with that now behind him, he is focused on defeating the veteran Whyte. Now 37, Whyte has seen it all in the heavyweight division and will be Itauma’s toughest challenge to date.
It is youth vs experience. Whyte is 17 years Itauma’s senior, one of the largest gulfs in age we have seen in recent years
But it is no means the largest that has ever been seen, so here’s a look at the biggest differences in age between two fighters who have shared the ring.
Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson (31 years)
The fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson was marred by controversy due to the record-breaking age difference, which surpassed the previous record by three years.
Tyson was 58 years old at the time of the fight last year and had not had a sanctioned professional bout in nearly 20 years. His advanced age, paired with health issues that delayed the originally scheduled fight, made many people sceptical of his ability to perform at his explosive best against Paul.
Paul was 27 and was no stranger to taking on older opponents, having beaten retired MMA legends Anderson Silva, Tyron Woodley and Nate Diaz.
The fight was a plodding affair, with Tyson visibly frustrated that his body could not execute what his mind was commanding and could not get close to Paul.
‘The Problem Child’ also looked to struggle with the extra 30lbs he put on for the fight, but used his jab well to score and keep Tyson at distance to take a unanimous decision victory.
Timothy A. Clary / AFP
Archie Moore vs Cassius Clay (28 years)
While reports of Moore’s age differ by a couple of years, this fight is still comfortably one of the biggest age differences in History.
Ali, still known as ‘Cassius Clay', went into the fight only 20 years old against Moore, who was approaching his 49th birthday in what would be the penultimate fight of his career.
Moore had a career spanning almost three decades, 220 fights and a record 132 knockout wins. But he had to wait 17 years before he got his first shot at a world title, despite competing with and beating some of the best that two generations of fighters had to offer.
But on the night, the youth and technical brilliance of a future great proved to be too much for Moore and Ali stopped him in the fourth round.
Stanley Weston/Getty Images
Bernard Hopkins vs Joe Smith Jr (24 years)
Bernard Hopkins holds the record for the oldest world champion in boxing history, beating Jean Pascal in 2011 at 46 years old to break George Foreman’s record that stood for 17 years.
But further down the line, after Hopkins had forfeited his unified light-heavyweight titles to Sergey Kovalev in 2014, ‘The Executioner’ had been searching for a final world title fight to end his career, having promised to fight one more time.
After failed negotiations with Carl Froch and James DeGale, Hopkins ended up not having his final fight scheduled until 2016, when he was 51 years old.
His opponent was the WBC international light heavyweight champion, Joe Smith Jr, who was 27 at the time of the fight.
The fight itself was a bizarre affair. Smith Jr was cut early but maintained control over the fight, having too much tenacity and front foot pressure for the former champion.
Then in the eighth round, Smith Jr landed a four-punch combination that sent Hopkins through the ropes. The fall injured Hopkins’s foot, and he could not continue. The referee judged that the injury came from a legal punch and awarded Smith Jr the technical knockout.
Harry How/Getty Images
George Foreman vs Shannon Briggs (23 years)
George Foreman had completed the most unlikely of comebacks, becoming the unified heavyweight champion by knocking out Michael Moorer at 45 years old in 1994.
He was shortly stripped of his WBA belt for refusing to defend it against Tony Tucker and only defended his IBF title once against Axel Schulz.
To avoid a rematch, he then vacated his IBF belt, but in 1997 was told that if he could beat one of the WBC’s top contenders, he would get a shot at Lennox Lewis’ WBC belt.
The fight landed in the lap of the young heavy hitter from New York, Shannon Briggs who boasted a record of 29-1 at the time and was touted to be a future champion.
By the time of the fight, Briggs was 25 and Foreman was 48. Many thought that Foreman had done enough to clearly win the fight, outthrowing and outlanding Briggs across all 12 rounds, but the Brooklyn native took a majority decision in what would be Foreman’s farewell fight.
Canelo Alvarez vs Carlos Baldomir (19 years)
Canelo was still a youthful 20 years old when he came up against the vastly experienced Baldomir, 39, who had shared the ring with the best of his generation, including Floyd Mayweather, Zab Judah and Arturo Gatti.
Baldomir had briefly held the WBC welterweight title, which he took from Zab Judah and defended against Gatti.
But do not mistake Canelo’s youth for inexperience; he had accumulated a record of 33-0-1 before the clash with Baldomir and was on the cusp of a world title shot.
At 39, Baldomir was on the slide and was never known for his power, but he did not put a dent in Canelo, who was just too explosive and too slick for the ageing Argentinian, knocking him out in the sixth round to claim the WBC silver super welterweight title
Harry How/Getty Images
Watch Itauma vs Whyte live on DAZN
Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte is live and exclusive on DAZN PPV this Saturday, August 16. Buy the PPV for a one-off fee or get it for free by purchasing a DAZN annual subscription (exc. US).
More information, pricing and to buy click here.
