Itauma Can Follow Three British Comeback Stars

Moses Itauma has company in defeat. The 21-year-old heavyweight dropped his first pro fight to Filip Hrgovic in a world title bid earlier this month, but three British stars before him suffered similar setbacks and still became champions.

Frank Warren, who promotes Itauma, told The Ring that David Haye, Amir Khan, and Daniel Dubois each lost to more seasoned opponents early in their careers before bouncing back to capture major belts. All three returned within three months of their defeats and used quick victories to rebuild momentum.

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Haye Stopped Before Thompson Revenge

Haye was 10-0 when Carl Thompson knocked him out in five rounds at Wembley Arena in September 2004. The South London puncher came back 90 days later and stopped Valeri Semiskur in 96 seconds at a Yorkshire leisure center. Haye won the European cruiserweight title by the end of 2005 and unified the division before taking the WBA heavyweight strap from Nikolai Valuev in November 2009.

Khan suffered a 54-second knockout loss to Breidis Prescott in Manchester in September 2008, derailing an 18-0 start to his pro career. He returned three months later with a second-round stoppage of Oisin Fagan and won his first world title via decision over Andriy Kotelnik in July 2009. Khan unified at welterweight two years later by beating Zab Judah for the IBF belt.

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Dubois lost to Joe Joyce in November 2020 when a broken eye socket forced a 10th-round stoppage. Warren rebuilt him with three knockout wins in eight months, including a fourth-round demolition of Trevor Bryan for a secondary heavyweight title in June 2022. Dubois went on to stop Hrgovic for the IBF interim belt in June 2024 and knocked out Anthony Joshua three months later. He lost the IBF title to Oleksandr Usyk but captured the WBO strap by beating Fabio Wardley in May.

Itauma insists he will learn from the Hrgovic defeat and return to world title contention. His next fight date has not been announced.

Source: ringmagazine.com