GLASGOW, Scotland — Moses Itauma needed less than two minutes to score a knockdown and make his mark in 2025, after an unexpected inactive period with many itching to see The Ring's Prospect of the Year back in action. Mike Balogun was the unfortunate victim.

A whizzing left hand foreshadowed the first knockdown, with Balogun breathing heavy and in survival mode during the second half of an opening round that could've easily ended prematurely, had the 20-year-old connected as he did so sharply to put him down.

"Let's loosen up baby" came the cry from the 41-year-old's corner, and moments later he was staring at the lights in the second of three as Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs) made quick work of an American playing spoiler, who relished the chance given many before him had failed.

After weighing a career-heaviest 254lbs, Itauma spoke well Friday about not looking past a hungry contender double his age coming into this with nothing to lose.

"I know everyone's here to see the main event. I've just got to dust him up and do my job. It's very disrespectful to name others before [I've beaten] him, gotta send him on the way home," Itauma said to a rousing reception.

That's exactly what unfolded, rather emphatically.

Balogun (21-2, 16 KOs), a former American football linebacker, advanced wildly in ways Demsey McKean and Marius Wach before him were not. It didn't stop Itauma from catching him, though the left-hander was awkward in ways that prolonged this one-sided beatdown.

After crumpling him into a heap on the canvas with a pair of thunderous lefts, Itauma's jab was working beautifully as he bided his time waiting for a picture-perfect punch. It came ten seconds into the second, catching Balogun with a counter right as he threw one, too.

That spurred him into reckless abandon, ducking down and throwing caution to the wind — even catching the youngster with a few cuffing shots to back him up against the ropes. A right hand connected flush and referee John Latham didn't bother starting another count.

"He's a tough cookie. After the first knockdown I thought he wasn't getting up, I thought what? Was catching him clean, he was still trying to get up [after the second], fair play to that man. I know there were expectations on me but this was his chance at the big league," he told Queensberry's Dev Sahni post-fight.

His manager, Francis Warren, said they were hopeful he'd return again in July — a month featuring an undisputed fight — as the age-old question of getting him rounds and valuable experience before facing the division's elite-level names continues to go unanswered.