Dillian Whyte's biggest weapon that Moses Itauma must watch out for

As Moses Itauma prepares to take on the biggest test of his career against veteran heavyweight and former world title challenger Dillian Whyte on August 16 in Saudi Arabia, there is one thing that Itauma must prepare for. 

Itauma will take on his second fight of the year after making a successful return from a brief battle with injury – knocking out Mike Balogun in the second round to secure his eighth consecutive knockout and 12th career win. 

This fight represents a return to the big stage for Whyte, who has also been struggling with injury and trying to rebuild since his loss to Tyson Fury. In Whyte's last signficiant fight, he attempted to become the WBC heavyweight champion in 2022. 

He has registered three wins since and will be hoping a win against one of Britain’s brightest prospects will help propel him back into world title contention. 

Whyte is not as technically gifted a fighter as Itauma, but he is always dangerous. One of the biggest weapons in his arsenal, which gives him that one-shot, fight-changing power, is his left hook. 

But what makes Whyte’s left hook so dangerous? 

Lights out power 

At any point in a fight, Dillian Whyte possesses the power to render his opponent unconscious with a single shot. 

It seems his favourite shot for delivering this power is his left hook. So often, we have seen him use it as the punctuation to a flurry of punches. It has often been that final left hook that has proven to be the shot that incapacitates the man in front of him. 

There are two perfect examples of this in Whyte’s career. The first is his brutal finish over former world champion Lucas Browne, which silenced the crowd inside the O2 Arena in 2018.

Whyte had Lucas Browne in massive trouble heading into the sixth round, landing barrages of sharp jabs followed up by right hands and uppercuts. Browne leaned back onto the ropes under pressure, and as he tried to circle away, Whyte missed with an overhand right, which perfectly wound him up for a hellacious left hook that flattened Browne instantaneously. 

The second demonstration of Whyte’s power came against Alexander Povetkin in their 2021 rematch. Povetkin had produced a shock knockout in the fifth round after being dropped twice in the fourth, and Whyte came out a man on a mission in the return fixture. 

In the fourth round, Whyte produced two right hands that staggered Povetkin and, sensing the end of the fight, leapt after the reeling Povetkin and finished the fight with a stunning hook. 

What does this mean for Itauma? The heavyweight prospect cannot afford to switch off for a split second against a fighter as destructive as ‘The Bodysnatcher’.

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Counter shot 

Whyte possesses long levers, so going into the ring against him, it would be fair to assume he is going to use them to keep his opponents at a distance with long straight shots.

But the Brit’s all-action style means that he often spends time up close and personal with his opponents, and because of this, he has developed a devastating counter left hook for when his opponents linger in range. 

The unlikely nature of a short-left hook being one of the most dangerous pieces of artillery in Whyte’s arsenal makes it an even more dangerous proposition

This weapon has stunned and dropped high-level opponents throughout Whyte’s career, like Joseph Parker, Anthony Joshua and Derek Chisora. 

In these fights, we see Whyte’s opponents step into range, following up on an entry shot, and Whyte retreats into a hunched shell, sinking into his legs, whilst his opponents remain upright. 

Then, when the time is right for him to strike, he uncoils himself and unleashes a whipping left hook, almost jumping into the shot. 

In our three examples, it was the first time we saw Joshua hurt in his career, it was the second time Parker had been dropped (the first was in the same fight with a suspicious left hook that was more shoulder and elbow), and it produced a highlight reel one-shot knockout of Derek Chisora. 

Itauma has excellent distance control and poise, but the danger with Whyte lies not in when you have him at a distance. It appears when you feel like you have him in trouble, and you enter range to go for the finish.

If Itauma, inexperienced as he is, hurts Whyte and charges into danger to go for the knockout, he may get clipped with a counter left hook, as so many before him have fallen to. 

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Ben Hoskins/Getty Images

What can Itauma do to nullify the left hook?

Itauma’s biggest advantages heading into this fight are his boxing ability and speed. These two factors combined should be enough to neutralise the danger of Whyte’s left hook. 

If Itauma can use his feints to trigger Whyte into throwing his left hook, then he will leave the 37-year-old vulnerable to counterattacks, as Whyte often overcommits to his shots – finding himself off balance and out of shape if he doesn’t find the target. 

This is where the Slovakian-born Brit can capitalise, using his lightning-fast hand speed to unload fast combinations and retreat to a safe distance. 

If Whyte takes the front foot and looks to be proactive, then Itauma can use his counter lead hook, which we saw him use to devastating effect against Mike Balogun

But Itauma does have a height and reach disadvantage, so his footwork and head movement will have to play an important role in keeping him out of the firing line before he can explode into range. 

Watch Itauma vs Whyte live on DAZN

You can watch Moses Itauma vs Dillian Whyte live on DAZN on August 16. More information is available here.