By Steven Cummings
Filip Hrgovic of Croatia withstood an early storm from Moses Itauma and stopped the 21-year old in the ninth round to win the vacant IBF heavyweight title on Saturday at the O2 Arena in Londong. Hrgovic (21-1, 16 KOs) was a sizeable underdog to the British phenom, but he got up from a 2nd round knockdown to score the victory as Ituama (14-1, 12 KOs) was on the brink of exhaustion. Official time of the stoppage was 2:27.
Itauma came out strong, as always, and landed clean shots on Hrgovic which were expected to ultimately be too much for the Croatian. But Hrgovic took most of the shots very well with even the knockdown punch not appearing to do much damage. As the middle rounds approached, Hrgovic traded a bit more with Itauma but didn’t seem to be getting the better of it, although Itauma was showing signs of tiring.
Round eight was a big one for Itauma as he rocked Hrgovic repeatedly and opened a cut over his right eye. Itauma went for it, exerting a lot of energy with power shots in an attempt to end the fight. But it turned out to be his last gasp as the situation changed very quickly when the next round began.
At the start of the ninth round, Hrgovic went on the offensive and Itauma was visibly worn down. Hrgovic came after the youngster with power shots and backed him into the ropes. Itauma was able to fight fire with fire for a stretch before losing strength and staggering on wobbly legs. Hrgovic drove him into the ropes again and Itauma’s corner eventually threw in the towel.
The new champion charmed the London crowd with his post-fight interview while their countryman was taken from the ring on a stretcher.
So, the question has been answered regarding what happens when someone can stand up to Moses Itauma’s power. The answer came sooner in his career, rather than later, as he navigated his way to a title shot against a granite-chinned opponent in just his 15th pro bout. Pre-fight analysis seemed to favor Hrgovic being made for Itauma and would take too many power shots, ultimately being stopped in the middle rounds. Post-fight analysis was overwhelmingly in favor of “I knew Itauma wasn’t ready.” That’s how our sport rolls.
If Itauma would have landed a set of perfect shots and won the fight early, today’s narrative would be about greatness, invincibility and Mike Tyson. Having failed to get an early stoppage and being taken to the deep waters in which he had never swam before, we now know what happens after swinging from the heels that many times. The overwhelming hype that came with Itauma’s young age and his highlight-reel knockouts makes this crushing loss seem like the end of his career and nobody thought he was that good anyway.
But really, he got was George Foreman got in Zaire. Moses Itauma went for it, didn’t get it and gassed out. That’s not great, but he can change his game while retaining the most valuable commodity in the sport, that instant-coma power. And he’s got all the time in the world to do it at age 21.
Meanwhile, the new champ is somebody that everybody can love. Filip Hrgovic is 34 years old and has been in there with some of the division’s big guns, suffering his only loss to Daniel Dubois in 2024, a TKO8. This was only Hrgovic’s 22nd fight, but he also had Joe Joyce and Zhilei Zhang on his resume. Itauma was rushed to this meeting, Hrgovic was likely getting his last chance.
With Dubois and Agit Kabayel in attendance there were plenty of call-outs. The heavyweight division moves on. Just not with Moses Itauma in the immediate future, as was planned and expected.
