Forty years after Mike Tyson quickly fought his way to becoming the youngest ever heavyweight world champion at the age of 20, Moses Itauma is leaving a similar trail of destruction as he inches closer to a title fight.

Itauma (13-0, 11 KO) (13-0, 11 KO) will face American Jermaine Franklin on Saturday in Manchester, England amid growing interest in a journey that many believe will end with him as the top heavyweight star.

Itauma stopped 11 of his 13 opponents within two rounds, and his momentum up the heavyweight rankings can be compared to how Tyson dealt with opponents with such brutal efficiency earlier in his career.

Quick knockouts generate excitement and interest from fans, attract television/streaming companies, and can accelerate a world title fight, as we see with Itaum.

But are comparisons with Tyson, who became a global superstar and feared champion in the 1980s, justified?

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Mike Tyson’s journey to superstardom

By the time Tyson first fought for a world title just 20 months after his professional debut, he was well known to sports fans around the world and had a greater international profile than Itauma. The American’s fights were guaranteed by KO, and TV viewers around the world were drawn to his journey even before his first fight for the world title.

After a complex childhood, 13-year-old Tyson moved from Brooklyn to Catskill, Recent York, to live with veteran boxing trainer Cus D’Amato, who had guided Floyd Patterson to the 1956 world heavyweight title. Under D’Amato’s expert tutelage, Tyson developed a peek-a-boo style of boxing characterized by ferocious attacking and powerful punches.

When Tyson was 15, D’Amato said, “I found the kid who will take over from Floyd Patterson as the youngest heavyweight of all time. Notice the name. It’s Mike Tyson.”

Tyson turned professional at the age of 18 in June 1985 and made an immediate impact, winning his first 18 paid fights by knockout in his debut. Interestingly, 12 of those wins came in the opening round.

Tyson’s impressive knockout form terrorized the heavyweight division in the mid-1980s. Nine months before winning the world title, he stopped Jesse Ferguson in six rounds in The Recent Yorker’s national television (ABC) debut, then chillingly said of his final right uppercut: “I’m trying to catch him right on the tip of the nose because I’m trying to push the bone into the brain.”

Many opponents looked defeated before they entered the ring to face Tyson.

“When I step into the ring and catch my opponent’s eye, I see fear in his eyes,” Tyson said at the time.

When Tyson recorded his 17th consecutive victory – a 5th round KO of Mike Jameson – in January 1986 – he bettered the victories of Rocky Marciano since the beginning of his career as heavyweight world champion (Tyson won his first 19 fights by KO).

Less than two years into his career as a professional, Tyson left Trevor Berbick walking around the ring on drunk feet after a stunning second-round TKO victory that won him the WBC heavyweight title in November 1986.

“I was throwing hydrogen bombs there,” said Tyson, whose coach D’Amato had died the previous year. “This is the moment I’ve been waiting for my whole life.”

Tyson was electrifying at the time and dominated the heavyweight division until 1990.

Angelo Dundee, Muhammad Ali’s now-retired trainer, said: “This kid Tyson is a bomb. I just couldn’t believe the speed of his punches, it was amazing. He’s going to be a great, great champion. As good as Ali? Let’s wait and see, but it’s very likely, the potential at his age is huge.”

Still 20 years antique, Tyson unified the titles by winning the WBA belt against James “Bonecrusher” Smith in March 1987 and became undisputed champion with another points win over Tony Tucker in August 1987.

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Moses Itauma fights less, but is just as ruthless

Boxers fought more often in the 1980s, so Tyson was much more vigorous than Itauma. Early in his professional career, Itauma hoped to break Tyson’s record as the youngest ever heavyweight world champion.

“Within the first two months of my professional career, I realized that this goal was impossible to achieve. I was naive to say that,” Itauma told the BBC last year.

Despite boxing less than Tyson, Itauma still almost kept pace with the American’s first-round victories. Out of his first 13 fights, Itauma stopped eight opponents in the first round, compared to Tyson’s nine first-round wins out of his first 13 fights.

Physically they are different. Tyson was 5-foot-10, weighed 220 pounds and used hooks and upper body movements from crouching, hopping and weaving positions. In addition to punching power, Tyson also had incredible hand speed early on.

Itauma, a 6-foot-4 southpaw who was born in Slovakia but moved to Kent, England, when he was three, is taller and heavier (235 pounds) than Tyson and relies more on his jab and footwork to create openings.

But like Tyson, Itauma is ruthless when hurting his opponents with his quick hands, as his history proves. He showed impressive hand speed and shock power when he knocked down Dillian Whyte in 119 seconds in August. Itauma swarmed all over Whyte, who was finally sent down with a right hook to the temple.

“I’m only 20, so I have 10-15 years left,” Itauma said after a brief conversation with Whyte, who defeated former world champion Fury over six rounds for the WBC title in April 2022. “If I get the chance [to fight for a world title] I will 100% do it [be champion]”

Itauma, who like Tyson turned professional at the age of 18, showed strength in both fists. He knocked down Demsey McKean (December 2024) with a left hand in a first-round victory, and Mike Balogun (May 2025) was lifted off his feet with a right hook in a second-round TKO victory.

To put Itauma’s ruthlessness into perspective, current world No. 1 heavyweight Oleksander Usyk failed to stop a single professional opponent over two rounds, while Fury recorded six wins in the first two rounds, the most at the start of his career.

• Rocky Marciano defeated 11 of his first 15 opponents in the first two rounds.

• Vitali Klitschko dispatched his first 10 professional opponents in two rounds during the year; he won his first 27 professional fights by KO.

• Deontay Wilder has stopped 13 of his first 15 professional opponents within two rounds.

• Anthony Joshua stopped 12 of his first 15 professional opponents in just over two years.

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Moses Itauma’s title shot is encouraging

In addition to adding his name to the five youngest world heavyweight champions in history, Itauma can also rank high among those who have won a world title in the fewest number of fights. Joshua won his first world title a decade ago in his 16th professional fight, and Itauma is well-positioned to get a chance to fight for the belt sooner.

Tyson Fury told ESPN: “I’ve been in camp with him for the last three years, so I know what he’s about. I’d love to see him [win] some titles, there’s nothing wrong with him being the next Muhammad Ali, but when he hasn’t won an English title or a British title or… in general, it’s strenuous to convince the world.

“You have to pick up belts along the way. I like to do it the old-fashioned way, win every belt along the way and then try to become world champion, so don’t jump into the pan because it may or may not be too early. It would be a guessing game, but if you’re fighting for titles along the way, you know what your progress is.”

Fury has previously warned that age matters.

“Itauma will eliminate all the antique guys from the division: Usyk, AJ, Jarrell Miller,” he said. “Whoever is antique. All those substantial names from the past are a spent force. Even the current world champion [Usyk]Moses will destroy him, because it is a fight between youthful men and antique men, and antique men cannot mess with youthful men.”

Itauma looks set to earn a world title shot within the next 12 months, especially if Usyk decides to relinquish one of the belts like he did last year.

Itauma is in first place in the WBA rankings, behind “regular” WBA champion Murat Gassiev. He is also the No. 1 contender for WBO champion Fabio Wardley, who rose to the world title after Usyk vacated the title in November and defends the belt against Daniel Dubois on May 9. WBC, WBA and IBF champion Usyk will fight Rico Verhoeven on May 23 in Egypt, and the WBC belt will be at stake. The most likely path for Itauma is the WBA or WBO belts.

While Tyson generated more noise and interest around the world when he stormed to the world title 40 years ago, Itauma’s crowning glory in his current form seems inevitable, just like Tyson’s.