Filip Hrgovic Becomes Croatia's First Heavyweight Champion
Filip Hrgovic walked into London as the visiting fighter and walked out of The O2 as Croatia’s first world heavyweight champion, but he did it the hard way and against a 21-year-old prodigy who almost ran him out of the ring.
For six rounds, Moses Itauma looked every inch the future of the division. Then the future ran out of gas.
Itauma flies, then fades
The opening half of the fight belonged almost entirely to Itauma. The young Brit, unbeaten before Saturday night and hailed as one of boxing’s brightest rising stars, ripped into Hrgovic with fast, sharp combinations. His hands blurred, his shots came from angles Hrgovic struggled to read, and the champion-in-waiting found himself banking round after round.
“I was losing all the rounds,” Hrgovic admitted. “The kid is amazing, he was so fast, you don't see his punches coming.”
Itauma’s speed told. His power less so. Hrgovic, 34, has built his career on a granite chin and a stubborn refusal to wilt, and once again it kept him alive when a less durable heavyweight might have folded under the early assault.
The clock, though, was ticking on Itauma’s engine.
By the seventh, he entered unfamiliar territory. It was the first time in his professional career he had been beyond six rounds, and the change showed immediately. His work rate dipped. His feet slowed. The snap in his punches began to drain away. Hrgovic, reading the body language in front of him, sensed the tide turning.
“Since the first round I saw he was gassing out,” Hrgovic said. “He was boxing still like an amateur. He's inexperienced… I knew my only chance was to stay there to make him tired, to keep coming and to maybe stop him later on. That's what I did.”
Champion pounces as the tank empties
The pressure finally told in the ninth. Hrgovic, who had soaked up punishment and refused to be dissuaded, stepped on Itauma with a relentless, thudding attack. The younger man, exhausted and hampered by what promoter Frank Warren later suggested was a leg issue, could no longer keep him off.
The Brit’s corner, seeing a proud effort tipping toward danger, made the call. The towel came in. The referee waved it off. Hrgovic had the stoppage, the vacant IBF heavyweight title, and a slice of Croatian sporting history.
“I came to London, his hometown, against the most talented guy in the division and I beat all the odds,” Hrgovic said in the ring. “I want to be considered the best heavyweight in the world, and this is my time. I am the best. I am the present and he is the future.”
It was praise laced with a pointed critique. Hrgovic called Itauma “amazing” and “the most talented guy in the division”, yet said the performance reminded him of the unpaid ranks – brilliant in bursts, unschooled in pacing and the brutal arithmetic of championship rounds.
Hospital scare and a harsh lesson
The finish brought an anxious coda. Itauma, visibly spent and hurt, left the ring on a stretcher and was taken to hospital as a precaution. Warren was quick to stress that this is standard protocol when a young fighter has gone through a punishing, high-tempo contest.
“That's what we always do to make sure because the most important thing is the boxer's health,” the promoter said. “He's there and he's in the best place.”
By Sunday morning, the immediate fears had eased. Queensberry Promotions confirmed Itauma had been discharged.
“Moses is well. He left the hospital last night and is back at home with his family,” a spokesperson said.
Warren revealed Itauma had also “done something to his leg” and underlined just how intense the bout had been.
“It was a high-paced, fast fight for both the guys. It was just edge of your seat stuff all the way through,” he said. “At the end, that's the type of fight it was – they were standing there just letting bombs go.”
The dream, for now, is on hold. Itauma had entered the ring chasing history, aiming to become Britain’s youngest ever heavyweight world champion. Instead, he leaves with his first professional defeat, questions about his stamina over the second half of a fight, and the mental bruises that come with seeing a perfect record shattered.
“I don't even know how he feels mentally,” Warren admitted. “Mentally, he's going to be completely down. We're going to have to talk to him and lift him and see what he's like.
“It's going to take some time. He's going to have a nice break. It's not even the time to talk about it with him at the moment… It's something we're probably doing in two weeks or even a month's time, see where we go with it.”
The lesson, though, is clear. Against durable, elite heavyweights like Hrgovic, early fireworks are not enough. Pacing, composure, and the ability to carry threat into the deep waters will define whether Itauma fulfils the potential so many see in him.
Hrgovic’s next step: from history to unification?
While Itauma regroups, Hrgovic’s path sharpens. The new IBF champion has already set his sights on the rest of the division.
“I want to fight for unification against Dubois or Agit Kabayel. I want to go for unification, that's what I want,” he said, still buzzing from the win.
Before any unification can materialise, one obstacle stands in his way: the IBF’s mandatory challenger, Frank Sanchez. That assignment will test whether Hrgovic is merely a hard man with a belt, or the heavyweight force he insists he already is.
He calls himself the present. He calls Itauma the future. The belt around his waist backs up the first claim. How quickly the second comes true may depend on how the young Brit responds to the longest, hardest night of his life.
