MOSES ITAUMA has revealed he feels awkward when going to Tesco following his newfound fame from his boxing success.
The 18-year-old wonderkid, with the booming voice to match his fists, is three wins into his dream to better Mike Tyson’s record of becoming the world’s youngest heavyweight champion.
In these summer holidays, when most teens are planning Magaluf trips, the Kent prospect – who outgrew his school uniform aged 13 – is travelling to Spain to spar Daniel Dubois ahead of his Oleksandr Usyk mission.
But, after some serious probing ahead of tonight’s fourth showcase in Telford against Kevin Espindola, SunSport discovered the super-mature southpaw does treat himself to the odd frame of age-appropriate fun.
“Bowling is probably the one thing I do that kids my age do – and I am a master!” he laughed. “Everything else is just boxing.
“Me and my brother go down the bowling alley every week when we’re bored at home. We’re not really very good but we practise our shots and have a laugh.
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“I am getting better numbers, 140s and 150s now. I bowl with my right hand but if I play properly, I win all the time, so I try to practise spinning and curling the ball now to make things interesting.”
Everything is interesting about this prodigious talent, with a Slovakian mum and Nigerian dad, raised in Chatham and utterly averse to fame and attention in the best possible way.
He doesn’t just ignore praise and positive social media comments, he blocks them and purposely focuses on the few negatives that trolls might anonymously send his way.
He explained: “If I ever start to feel like I’ve made it, I know I will start to lose that hunger.
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“When someone starts telling me something positive, I can switch my ears off like my Bang & Olufsen headphones, I don’t acknowledge it.
“If I am the best artist in the world and everyone tells me I am, then what’s the point in me bothering to paint anymore? The game’s done.
“I don’t like receiving praise at all. Presents? I f***ing love them. But don’t praise me.
“I am starting to notice people looking at me a lot more, mainly when I go to Tesco.
“I’ve had a few awkward exchanges, I was leaning over to get something in a freezer and some bloke was just staring at me.
"I had the same thing happen in the fruit aisle once, when a bloke was staring at me and I didn’t know if I had a fan or a geezer who wanted to fight me.”
Manager Frank Warren is doing shrewd big-money deals for his star client and BT Sport are proudly broadcasting his rapid rise under the Queensberry promotional banner.
Itauma has every excuse to enjoy the trappings of youth and potential but, instead, he is still sparring men twice his age, like Joe Joyce, or Dubois ahead of his August 26 challenge.
“It’s only because I am bored at home otherwise,” he says totally deadpan.
“Boxing took over my life as a kid so I haven’t got loads of friends.
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"So if I get the chance to go and train with a guy who is about to box for the unified world titles, what am I going to do, turn it down and sit at home and watch Netflix?
“I am happy in the gym, it’s where I want to be.”
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