This Saturday 29th August. Moses Itauma meets Filip Hrgovic for the vacant IBF heavyweight championship.

Next Saturday at the O2 in London, Moses Itauma gets the opportunity to step into British boxing history when he attempts to claim the vacant IBF heavyweight championship and become the youngest British National to become a world heavyweight title holder. Itauma faces 34 year old U.S. based Croat Filip Hrgovic 20-1 (15 Ko’s) a seasoned high level campaigner who has lost only once in his 21 fight, 9 year career. Itauma 14-0 (12 Ko’s) has sprung to prominence with bold victories over steadily improving opposition, his most eye catching performance being his 2025 one round stoppage of the experienced Dillian Whyte. Hrgovic despite his glowing credentials, has only stepped into fringe world class a handful of times, once being his 2024 cuts loss to Daniel Dubois which to date remains the sole blemish on his resume, a debatable victory over Zhilei Zhang in 2022 where he had climb off the canvas in the opener and a laborious point effort over a shopworn Joe Joyce last year. Filip is a notoriously slow starter with a granite chin but may pose some resistance to the trailblazing Itauma who, through no fault of his own hasn’t been able to answer the questions regarding his resilience and ability to overcome a crisis. Despite his durability at the level he had already boxed at, Hrgovic is easy to hit and cuts up in almost every outing, the alarming exampe of this was his bout with the limited but hard hitting David Aleleye where he almost came unstuck against an opponent ranked leagues beneath him. Itauma is vastly improving, he has incredible punch variety, explosive power and great mobility for a heavyweight, all of which should be enough to emerge victorious against Hrgovic who technically has all of the chips stacked against him. Experience is a great asset if you’ve delved into deep waters at the top of the division frequently throughout your career, however in 9 years Hrgovic has slept in the second division of the heavyweights and rarely stepped into threatening waters. Moses on the other hand has dived headlong into unknown territory time after time, last time out knocking out tough Jermaine Franklin, a feat that both Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua failed to do a couple of years earlier. Hrgovic isn’t a concussive puncher and may need to survive an early onslaught to outhustle and outbox the young powerhouse if he has any chance of victory. Odds are stacked in the unassuming youngsters favour, more athleticism, far more explosive punching and faster feet, along with 13 years advantage of youth on his side. I expect Itauma to hurt Hrgovic early and force him to use his experience to survive as long as Moses allows him that luxury. A great fight to tell us how Moses handles the pressure of a huge occasion but unfortunately the questions regarding his punch resistance won’t be answered by Filip. Those questions may be saved for a higher caliber opponent to quiz on another occasion.