Moses Itauma

Moses Itauma is the scariest 21-year-old in boxing. The Slovakian-born, Chatham-raised southpaw is 14-0 with 12 knockouts, most of them lasting about as long as a ring walk — and heavyweight history says men this young simply shouldn't be doing this to grown professionals.

The comparisons arrived early and heavy: a teenage southpaw heavyweight with blinding hand speed inevitably gets the Mike Tyson references. The substance behind them is real — Itauma turned professional at 18 after a decorated amateur run and started separating veteran heavyweights from their senses with a jab-hook combination most opponents never actually see.

The Ring already rates him #6 in the world, a ranking earned on demolitions of the division's gatekeepers before he could legally rent a car in America. The question mark is the one every prodigy carries: what happens in deep water? So far, nobody has survived long enough to show him any.

The heavyweight division's next decade may well be an argument between Itauma and everyone else. Boxing has learned not to blink when he's on the card.