Heavyweight KO sensation Moses Itauma to face Dillian Whyte in main event of Riyadh Season card
The stage is set for Moses Itauma's breakout.
Itauma will step up to face Dillian Whyte in the main event of an Aug. 16 Riyadh Season event surrounding the Esports World Cup.
The 20-year-old Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs) has ended his last eight fights — and 10 total — inside two rounds. The British heavyweight sensation, also Uncrowned's 2024 prospect of the year, was last in action last month on the Josh Taylor vs. Ekow Essuman undercard in Glasgow, Scotland, stopping Mike Balogun.
Whyte (31-3, 21 KOs), 37, is on a three-fight win streak since suffering a knockout loss to Tyson Fury in his lone title challenge in April 2022. "The Body Snatcher" was scheduled to face Joe Joyce in April but was forced to withdraw from the bout with injury.
Elsewhere on the card, Nick Ball will defend his WBA featherweight title against Sam Goodman.
Ball (22-0-1, 13 KOs) has made two successful defenses against Ronny Rios and TJ Doheny since winning the championship with a controversial split decision over Raymond Ford in June 2024.
Goodman (20-0, 8 KOs) was scheduled to face Naoya Inoue twice in the last year but withdrew from both bouts due to a recurring eye injury. Now, he moves up to featherweight and walks into a world title shot against Britain's all-action champion.
Ford and Anthony Cacace will clash in a battle of former super featherweight world champions on the star-studded bill.
After losing his featherweight title to Ball, Ford (17-1-1, 8 KOs) moved up to super featherweight and recorded two dominant wins over Orlando Gonzalez and Thomas Mattice. Victory over Cacace could see Ford land a shot at Eduardo "Sugar" Nunez for the IBF super featherweight world title.
Cacace (24-1, 9 KOs) formerly held the IBF 130-pound crown but opted to vacate the belt to face Leigh Wood rather than defend against his mandatory, Nunez. Cacace stopped Wood in May in Nottingham, England, to continue his stellar run, which includes wins over Joe Cordina and Josh Warrington.
Filip Hrgović also returns to take on British heavyweight champion David Adeleye. Hrgovic (18-1, 14 KOs) rebounded from a stoppage defeat to Daniel Dubois in June 2024 to beat Joe Joyce by unanimous decision in April. On that same card, Adeleye (14-1, 13 KOs) controversially stopped Jeamie "TKV" Tshikeva to win the British heavyweight title.
Rounding out the card, Japanese contender Hayato Tsutsumi (7-0, 4 KOs) will battle Britain's Qais Ashfaq (13-3-1, 5 KOs) in a super featherweight contest.
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