Ekow Essuman Upsets Josh Taylor and Moses Itauma Blasts Out Mike Balogun in Glasgow

A few years ago, Josh Taylor was 19-0 and the undisputed super lightweight champion. His name was being bandied about in pound-for-pound discussions. But those days are long gone. Today, fighting on his home turf in Glasgow, the “Tartan Tornado” suffered his third straight setback, losing a 12-round decision to Ekow Essuman.

Taylor started fast, but Essuman gradually pulled away as it became obvious to him that Taylor didn’t punch hard enough to hurt him. Scoring off the TV, this reporter gave Taylor the first four rounds and Essuman the last four, mirroring the card of the Italian judge who had it 115-113 for the invader. His colleagues favored Essuman by margins of 116-112 and 116-113.

There were no knockdowns, but Taylor – who was making his first start as a welterweight — suffered a cut over his left eye in round seven from an apparent clash of heads and ended the fight with a purple welt under the eye. When the decision was announced, his face registered surprise and disappointment, but he left the ring without speaking to reporters.

Ekow Essuman, a Nottingham man born in Botswana, is 36 years old. A former BBBofC and Commonwealth title-holder at 147, he improved his ledger to 22-1 (8) in his third outing since losing a 12-round decision to Harry Scarf.

Moses Itauma

At age 20, Moses Itauma is a budding superstar. The Nigerian-Slovakian heavyweight, raised in London, was 20-0 as an amateur with 10 KOs. As a pro, he’s 12-0 (10) and none of his last eight opponents has lasted more than two rounds.

His latest victim, 41-year-old Mike Balogun, a former Oklahoma University linebacker who bounced around the NFL from 2010 to 2012, came to fight, bull-rushing Itauma at the opening bell and at the start of round two, but went the way of the others in a bout that ended 46 seconds into the second stanza when he walked into a right hook that put him on the deck for the third time, inducing referee John Latham to pull the plug.

A southpaw trained by Ben Davison, Itauma will undoubtedly have trouble finding opponents as his career moves forward. Balogun brought a 21-1 record but was stepped in the second round by Russian knockout artist Murat Gassiev when he last moved up in class.

Also

In an all-Scotland affair between featherweights, Nathaniel Collins (17-0, 8 KOs) demolished Lee McGregor (15-2-1) whose corner pulled him out at the 1:45 mark of the fourth round after he had been on the canvas three times.

A longtime stablemate and bosom buddy of Josh Taylor, Edinburgh’s McGregor started his pro career with a bang, winning a Commonwealth bantamweight title in his fifth fight, but his career is now on the skids. The victorious Collins relishes a fight with WBC belt-holder Stephen Fulton.

Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry

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