Moses Itauma Only Needs 23 Seconds To Win Pro Debut

Moses Itauma needed only 23 seconds to win his professional debut as hapless Marcel Bode caved in to the first serious punch Itauma threw on the Beterbiev-Yarde undercard.

Itauma was 1-2 with the bookmakers to win in the first round, but the evening had not got to plan with big brother Karol losing his unbeaten record less than an hour before Moses walked to the ring.

Having set himself the target of breaking Mike Tyson’s record as the youngest world heavyweight champion in history, the task in front of Itauma on his debut was unlikely to be a tough one, but this was farcical.

Bode look terrified as he left his corner and, after being backed up by one punch, Itauma dropped him with a left. The Czech boxer battled to find his feet and, to his credit, did haul his way up although referee Mark Bates waved it off.

Itauma held his hands out wide in disappointment. He has been promised wight fights this year, the next one in Telford on March 25.

Giant cruiserweight Tommy Fletcher moved to 4-0 with a pedestrian 60-54 decision over Daryl Sharp.

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.