LONDON, England — Ben Davison has heard the predictions ahead of Moses Itauma’s Aug. 16 clash with Dillian Whyte but insists he is not listening.

The Essex-based coach linked up with Itauma in the spring of last year and has since steered the 20-year-old to four wins and four knockouts, with three inside the second round and the other over inside the first.

In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in the main event of the Esports World Cup Fight Week, Itauma faces the toughest test of his career in Whyte, 37, a former interim world heavyweight titleholder and challenger for the full belt. The fight will be streamed live on DAZN PPV.

Despite Whyte’s credentials, and a huge experience disparity compared to Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs), the youngster has been made an overwhelming favourite to not only win the fight but do so in his typically early fashion.

But Davison has no intention of listening to pre-fight predictions and pointed out that Whyte (31-1, 21 KOs) would not be such an easy out for anyone else in the division.

“The general public might see it as a two- or three-round job for Moses,” Davison told DAZN. “And in my opinion, if there was any other heavyweight in the world boxing Dillian Whyte they wouldn’t say it’s a two- or three-round job.

“I think that just tells you how highly they think of Moses. But we’ve got the ultimate respect for Dillian and we will prepare diligently and we are expecting a tough fight.

“II think this is the best era in the history of British heavyweight boxing. Dillian has been a significant part of that with his rivalry with Anthony Joshua and he’s boxed [Tyson] Fury and had great fights with Derek Chisora.

“He has been a significant part of that so everyone is looking at Moses as the next one and the next key figure in the next generation of not just British heavyweights but world boxing.”

Itauma is highly ranked across all four major sanctioning bodies, with the WBO rating him as their No.1 behind only interim champion Joseph Parker and undisputed king Oleksandr Usyk.

As reported by The Ring earlier this week, the Slovakia-born Kent resident admitted that before linking up with Davison he had started to hate boxing. Now he feels that his switch to the Harlow gym has opened doors he did not realise even existed.

On the success of their working relationship, Davison added: “The formula that you’re looking for when working with a fighter is that you want them to have natural talent, that always helps, but more importantly than that you want someone who is hard-working, enjoys what they do and resilience — mental and physical.

“I would say those are the main things and we believe that he’s got all of those skills.”