Fight Night Preivew

On Saturday evening, over in Riyadh at the ANB Arena, a couple more pieces will fall into place in the heavyweight jigsaw.

In the headliner, it is next generational stuff because the young man most people believe represents the future of the division, Moses Itauma, takes a first deep dive into dangerous waters by taking on former world title challenger Dillian Whyte.

The 20-year-old taking the plunge comes in just his 13th fight as a professional and the leap from Mike Balogun to Whyte is, you would imagine, a considerable one.

As his promoter Frank Warren rightly pointed out, comparisons with the early career trajectory of Mike Tyson are misguided. Even though Iron Mike became the youngest world champion, his handlers did play a longer game when matching his early fights.

He was fighting pretty much every month, but was not set on a path of jeopardy. James Tillis and Mitch Green came in fights 19 and 20, where Tyson was taken the 10-round distance.

His first title fight, a world title, came along in fight 28.

In 1986 Tyson was even fighting twice a month in a number of instances, and he was able to bank experience in a way it is simply not plausible in this current era. Tyson’s people also knew that keeping him in the ring was a means of avoiding unwanted distractions outside.

This isn’t an issue with the calm and collected Moses, but he is still moving at a pace and how he gets to grips with the threat of Whyte will shape the thinking of his team when it comes to determining next moves.

Nothing is being taken for granted and the Hall of Fame promoter refused to speculate on future opposition in an interview on Thursday.

There is a lot to take into account. Not just how his fight with Whyte comes to a conclusion, but the whole package. How does he deal with headliner status? Is he force to cope with any trauma? Plus, what will his own mindset be after his first major assignment?

To simply describe Whyte as a former world title challenger doesn’t do him justice. The 37-year-old has 31 wins under his belt and he has been taking on high-calibre opposition since 2015 when he jumped in with Anthony Joshua.

Derek Chisora, twice, Robert Hellenius, Lucas Browne, Joseph Parker, Oscar Rivas, Mariusz Wach, Alexander Povetkin, twice and, of course, Tyson Fury.

Some of those names might not resonate so much today, but most were a dangerous prospect at the time and carried a threat. Whyte has never been spoon-fed.

The Brixton man has been a spectator as the heavyweight division has come to life over the last couple of years or so, but now he is part of it and he can really force his way in if he can derail the Moses Express.

Before getting back to the Big Fellas, the featherweights should take centre stage. Nick Ball, Britain’s only male world champ, is back to the city where it all happened for him with a third defence of his WBA world title against the undefeated Australian Sam Goodman.

It is a bit of a pity that the Scouse Snapper continually has to deal with questions over future opponents when previewing his forthcoming fight, particularly one against a man not currently operating at the same weight.

Ball has a genuine threat in front of him on Saturday and a man desperate to snatch his elevated status. The future can wait, as far as the Everton Red Triangle man is concerned.

However, David Adeleye is a man in a hurry. The Londoner, by rights, could be just readying himself for a British title rematch against Jeamie TKV, following the controversy of the original encounter.

But the 28-year-old wanted to put his foot down on the accelerator and speed towards bigger, more meaningful fights.

Enter Filip Hrgovic, the one-time great unwanted, who has got himself back on track following his single pro reverse against Daniel Dubois 14 months ago.

The Croatian got his mojo back with his late-notice overcoming of Joe Joyce in April and now he is confronted with another Capital challenge from another giant London man.

Hrgovic will go into the fight as a fairly convincing favourite, but this is part of the attraction for Adeleye. He wants to find out how good he is, or maybe just demonstrate to everyone else how good he is.

Whichever way you look at it, this is a heavyweight fight not to be missed.

Don’t miss any of the action by booking the fights on DAZN and tuning in from 5.45pm.