Hrgovic Stops Itauma in Ninth, Wins IBF Heavyweight Title
The Croatian boxer trailed for eight rounds before turning the fight around in the ninth to become IBF heavyweight champion, while Moses Itauma was stretchered out of the ring and taken to hospital.
For nine rounds, Moses Itauma looked like a man walking straight toward a historic title. By the ninth he could no longer defend himself with any purpose, his legs buckled in the middle of the O2 Arena, and referee Howard Foster stopped the fight before anyone else could react. Itauma’s trainer, Ben Davison, threw the towel into the ring at almost the same moment, but it was too late: the fight was already over.
The winner was Filip Hrgovic, who became the first Croatian boxer to hold a world heavyweight title. He got there after a night in which he had spent eight rounds as the clear second man in the ring.
Itauma, the 21 year old Briton who entered the fight unbeaten at 15 0 and as the overwhelming favorite, was the one dictating the pace from the opening bell. He landed the sharper punches, was faster and busier, while Hrgovic waited patiently for his chance and even took a standing eight count in the second round after eating a right hook. In the fifth round, an Itauma uppercut brought the home crowd to its feet. Everything pointed to the young Briton heading toward the title, and toward becoming the youngest heavyweight champion since Mike Tyson.
The turning point came in the eighth round. Itauma hurt Hrgovic, but instead of settling the pace he went for broke, chasing the knockout in front of his own fans. He never found it, and he paid for that burst with a huge amount of energy. By the time the ninth round started, he had nothing left in the tank. Hrgovic recognized it immediately, seized the initiative and went on the attack while Itauma, lost in the ring, could no longer defend himself.
The numbers behind the win show just how uncertain it was. Hrgovic is 34 years old with a professional record of 21 wins and a single loss, 14 of them by knockout, with that lone defeat coming against Daniel Dubois. A former Olympic bronze medalist, he is now the first Croatian to hold a title in this division. Itauma, for his part, had never before made it past the sixth round of his professional career, a career in which, until Saturday night, he had never tasted defeat.
After the fight, Hrgovic did not hide where he believed he had found the strength for that final round.
“I don’t know where the energy came from in that ninth round. That truly wasn’t my own strength. That was the Holy Spirit. He gave me the strength in this camp to endure everything, to have the best camp of my career, he brought me to this great trainer, Abel Sanchez.”
He spoke about his opponent with a respect that is rare after a fight like this one.
“I am the present, and he is definitely the future. He’s an incredible fighter, he’s one of a kind. He’s the best opponent I’ve ever shared a ring with, he just needed more experience. I felt the rhythm of the fight. I knew I was losing rounds, but I knew that rhythm was working in my favor. He was running out of breath.”
Sitting ringside, not by coincidence, were two other heavyweight champions: Daniel Dubois, who holds the WBO belt, and Agit Kabayel, the WBC champion. Those two are exactly who Hrgovic named as his next target.
“I want unification. Frank Sanchez will have to wait.”
That was a direct response to promoter Frank Warren, who announced after the fight that Hrgovic’s next bout would be against Cuban boxer Frank Sanchez. Hrgovic, it seems, has a different plan in mind, one built around unifying the heavyweight belts rather than another defense.
Itauma’s side of the story ended outside the ring. After the fight was stopped, the young Briton was carried out on a stretcher and taken from the O2 Arena to a hospital. His promoter, Warren, said the hospital visit was a precaution linked to a leg problem Itauma had been dealing with during the fight, without giving further details on the injury.
Hrgovic now holds a belt that Oleksandr Usyk wore before him, and he has sent a clear message to the rest of the heavyweight champions. The question is not whether the next major fight in this division will happen, but when Dubois or Kabayel accept the challenge issued from the ring by a 34 year old with a single loss, a man who had just come through the nine hardest rounds of his career.
