This weekend’s fight between unbeaten heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma and once-beaten Demsey McKean has a rematch clause – which McKean says Itauma’s team inserted into the contract.
And the 34-year-old McKean is taking that as a confidence booster for himself, and perhaps a sign that his 19-year-old opponent may not be everything that he’s expected to be.
“It’s very interesting that maybe they don’t have this 100% faith in their fighter,” . “It’s not even a world title fight, and they’re opting for rematch clauses.”
Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) is being highly touted and strongly pushed. He’s been pretty active since turning pro at the start of 2023. Itauma fought on the undercards of Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk I in May and Derek Chisora vs. Joe Joyce in July. That last appearance saw Itauma take out the long-faded former title challenger Mariusz Wach in two rounds in July.
This fight with McKean will take place this Saturday in Riyadh on the undercard of Usyk-Fury II.
McKean, 22-1 (14 KOs) is coming off a long layoff, with more than 16 months passing since his 12th-round knockout loss to Filip Hrgovic in August 2023.
Itauma, meanwhile, says he didn’t even know there was a rematch clause – and that it doesn’t matter.
“One thing I don’t like about boxing is the rematch clauses,” . “I’m not even thinking about Demsey McKean beating me one bit. Obviously I know that it could happen, but I’m not thinking about it. [...] If I do lose to Demsey McKean, I’ll have bigger questions asking myself than the rematch.”
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter and . He is the co-host of the . David’s book, “,” is available on Amazon.