Dillian Whyte

Wow. What a night that has been. An exceptional performance by young Moses Itauma. The future is bright for him, for the heavyweight division and for British boxing. Let’s wait and see where he goes next! Hope you enjoyed the blog and catch you for the next one.

That is the question that has been going around the venue this evening. The crowd are shouting for Usyk. Some are calling for Parker. Who do you think Itauma should fight next?

DILLIAN WHYTE IS KNOCKED OUT INSIDE ONE ROUND! This man is special. Yes Dillian is older and right in front of him, but that was a clinical performance. Never rushed his work, picked his shots, kept his range. It was excellent.

No need to panic… Dillian Whyte has made his way into the ring! Not long until the opening bell goes. Stay tuned!

Bit of mind games from Dillian Whyte…

Moses has been waiting in the ring for two and a half minutes. Dillian still hasn’t left the changing room. He’s taking his time. Making the youngster wait.

It’s important Moses Itauma stays warm. Perhaps Dillian is hoping this will slow the KO artist down in the opening rounds.

Stay tuned, we are just moments away from the Main Event. Moses is currently making his way to the ring. Remember, we will be bringing you round-by-round updates.

Nick Ball BEATS Sam Goodman by unanimous decision (117-111, 118-110, 115-113) to retain his world title. That said, incredible performance from both men. Goodman can be proud of his performance this evening.

The right man certainly won… but, some of those score cards are a little wide if you ask me!

A touch of gloves starts the round. Both coaches tell their fighters they need to win the 12th. Both men look to deliver. Goodman lands a good combination to cut the eye of Ball. Ball responds with a lovely uppercut. The pair continue to exchange. Ball doubles up his shots and throws everything at the Australian before the bell goes. The conditioning of these two was simply incredible.

Big two final rounds. Heading into Round 11 Nick Ball needed to box more, counter punch and avoid being reckless. Meanwhile, Goodman needed to be quicker with the jab and get busier. Both men stepped up but it was Ball’s counter-punching and combinations that will have won him the round.

Good combination from Ball lands early, but Goodman returns immediately. The Aussie’s footwork is stomping Ball from getting any real momentum going. It’s only when he hold his feet that Ball enjoys extended periods of success. It’s close. It’s really close but Ball has the edge.

Ball turns up the heat in the ninth round. Hunting down his prey but still reckless with some of his shots. A lovely uppercut manages to break through Goodman’s guard but it doesn’t cause the Australian too many issues.

Good start from Ball as he continues to put his combinations together. However, he still struggling to control the tempo in the usual manner that he does. Meanwhile, Goodman does well to target the body again, giving a much more measured approach to the fight.

All square heading into the seventh round. Better work from Ball as he starts to put his shots together. Goodman guilty of holding his feet a little too long.

It’s tight. It’s close. Goodman isn’t letting Ball take a break but the power is certainly with the Brit. However, he’s just out of range for the heavy shots he’s looking to land.

That’s more like the Wrecking Ball we know and love! Ball landing right hands over the top and doubling up his combinations. Ball needed that. Meanwhile, Goodman would have benefited from being slightly busier!

Heading into the fourth it’s Sam Goodman who has the edge. Ball’s big lunging left hooks are playing into Goodman’s hands at the moment. The Australian is doing well on the counter and keeping his form – tucked in nice and tight. Ball finishes the round well though with another eye-catching right hand.

Ball came racing out of the blocks looking to land that right hand but fell short on several occasions. Goodman fired back, landing a short left hand, right hook. Action was stopped soon after as Goodman found his gumshield knocked out of his mouth. Once it was back in place. Ball responded with a eye-catching right hand.

Goodman looked to get busy with the jab from the opening bell, showing good footwork as he turned up the heat. The Brit’s nose started to mark up with 1.41 on the clock but nothing for him to worry about. Especially as he finished the round landing several combinations and a nice left uppercut.

Quick start from Nick Ball, landing first, moving his feet and operating on different levels to prevent Goodman from finding his rythm. The Australian does well to target Ball’s body but fails to cause any real damage and leaves his chin exposed in the process… he’ll have to be careful of that going into the second round.

Just one more clash before the headline bout!

Nick Ball puts his WBA featherweight crown on the line against Australia’s Sam Goodman.

Since Daniel Dubois dropped the IBF heavyweight strap in July, Ball remains the sole male world champion from Britain.

The Liverpool fighter enters with a record of 22-0-1 (13 knockouts), while Goodman boasts an unbeaten 20-0 (8 knockouts).

I’ve just been cracking on, man. I’ve just been focusing on giving Buddy [McGirt] what he needs, what he wants to see and how he wants to see it.

I’ve been listening to the team. They’ve been around me a long time, so I’ve learned to just do what they ask, because they probably know me more than I know myself. They’re monitoring me daily, so if they say, ‘Don’t go to the gym today,’ I’m gonna sit down. If they say, ‘Do more,’ I’m gonna do more. But I haven’t stepped on the scales since last December, since my last fight.

Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. When I was a kid my dad would say random stuff to me all the time and most of it made no sense. But now as I get older I understand what he was trying to tell me, and I miss it. It just means don’t be scared to take risks. Don’t let people talk you out of something when you know where it is you want to be.

If you think about it, we’ve got priests and popes that spend a hundred years in the church and when it’s time to die, they start panicking. Why are you worrying about dying? You’re a man of God and you’re hoping to go to heaven.

You shouldn’t be scared to die because that’s the only way you’re going to get there. My mindset is that nobody wants to fight Moses, he’s young, sharp and full of beans but you have to believe in yourself and take risks. Sometimes you have to take risks to get to the place you want to go. Anyway to cut a long story short, I believe in myself.

I got into boxing when I was six so I’ve always given everything 100 percent. But as time goes on, there’s no other option but to give your all and put all the hard work in because I know it pays off. I’m proof of that. I don’t know whether I’ve been forced to enjoy it by pushing myself that much or whether that’s just in me.

I think it’s just in me. Anything I do I give 100 per cent and more so that’s just the type of person I am. I’ve got a massive work ethic so I think that’s just in me.

The calm confidence he exudes had to be retrieved once along the way. Itauma says: ‘I got to the point where I knew I could KO the opponents I was being matched against but didn’t feel I was progressing to a higher level as a boxer. I was beginning to hate it.

‘Then we brought in Ben Davison as my trainer and he brought me back from the brink of giving up. Opened my mind to the complete boxer I hope to become. And for this one he has taught me to take advantage of every opportunity Whyte gives me with his aggressive style.

Ben has convinced me that I can be the undisputed world champion.’ His brother Karol, himself a light-heavyweight, says: ‘It’s not ego. Just that he’s cold. Specially in the ring.’

Speaking ahead of the fight, Ball said: “My style of training, what we do at Peak Performance with my strength and conditioning coach Tom Christie, it’s a CrossFit gym.

“It’s all fight specific and it’s all programmed in a way for fighting and more. The way he does it, it’s unbelievable to be honest. We do CrossFit competitions and you can see all the flags up in the gym, I don’t think there are many other gyms with that many podiums. It’s crazy.

“That type of training works the best for me. Everyone’s got different things that they like doing. This and that, what works for them, that is perfect for me. I’ll continue to do that in and out of camp.

“It’s a lifestyle, isn’t it? It’s all year round. It’s not just for the camp for 6-8 weeks, 12 weeks. It’s all year round and being a professional and putting the work in. It helps you massively. It’s preparation leading up to the next one because it’s never over.”

Whyte was left bristling and bemused after an announcer messed up his boxing nickname – and accidentally described him as an infant abductor.

The heavyweight typically goes by the moniker of ‘body snatcher’ – a reference to his aggressive style of targeting the torso.

But at the Grand Arrivals in Riyadh, ahead of his Saturday showdown with Moses Itauma, Whyte suffered the embarrassment of being called the ‘baby snatcher’.

Whyte was forced to pull out of his highly anticipated fight with Joe Joyce after suffering a serious finger injury in training. While initial reports suggested Whyte had withdrawn due to inflammation, the British heavyweight has revealed that the damage is far worse.

The injury occurred during a strength and conditioning session when Whyte’s finger was crushed between two weights, resulting in a deep laceration that went down to the bone and damaged the nerve.

EXCLUSIVE DETAILS CAN BE FOUND BELOW

The question, while he has been felling big men like saplings, is whether his own chin can withstand sledgehammer blows. ‘It’s not like I’ve never been hit,’ Itauma says. ‘Some of these guys have caught me a couple of times even though with the skills to go with my power I try not be punched too much.

‘But any heavyweight can be knocked out if an opponent hits the spot and don’t forget I’ve sparred thousands of rounds with bigger men. ‘The hardest I’ve ever been hit was in the gym by a Croatian whose name I can’t remember. It was like being slugged with a baseball bat. But I took it.’

Itauma ahead of the fight: ‘I know Dillian has the experience and the punch to still pose a threat to anyone. But I would be very disappointed if I didn’t stop him. I’d consider it a failure.’

Itauma ahead of the fight: ‘I’m never anxious before a fight. Not against any opponent. I’ve not been sleeping well at night before facing Dillian but not because of nerves. Just that my mind keeps me awake thinking about every detail of our plan to beat him. Rehearsing the way to react to the moves he wakes by knocking him out.’

Hello and welcome to tonight’s live blog for Moses Itauma’s fight with Dillian Whyte. There is so much at stake for both men. The pressure is on Itauma’s shoulders heading into the fight as he looks to make a statement during his biggest test to date.

Meanwhile, some believe this could be Whyte’s last real roll of the dice! So, make sure you stay tuned as we’ll be bringing live updates from the card and as well as round-by-round updates from the main event.