Moses Itauma vs. Filip Hrgovic | DAZN - 29 August 2026

[Ruthless-RKO]

‘Exploit his tendencies’: Moses Itauma and Filip Hrgovic talk vacant title fight

Moses Itauma and Filip Hrgovic discuss their upcoming heavyweight clash later this month.

With Moses Itauma and Filip Hrgovic officially set to contend for the vacant IBF title on Aug. 29, DAZN releases their full face off video interview conversation between the combatants. Both fighters expressed a lot of confidence that they will be coming out on top in this matchup, and you can check out some excerpts of what both had to say below with the full video segment, as well.

Itauma on getting the Hrgovic fight
“So, after the Jermaine Franklin fight we had to kind of assess the situation and we never really had an opponent in mind. Obviously, Filip Hrgovic was ranked #2 with the WBO. It would’ve been written in the stars if Fabio would’ve beat Dubois, then Fabio would have vacated the title and me and Hrgovic could have boxed for the real world title and being a world champion at 21 would’ve been good. But obviously things didn’t align, so we’re here still fighting Filip Hrgovic.

“I just wanted a step up anyway, and Hrgovic has got a better resume than all the guys I’ve beat. I mean he’s ranked higher than me, so it’s a step up, it’s a necessary step up and it’s necessary to where I want to go…I believe I can solve Filip Hrgovic’s puzzle. In 10 weeks time, we shall see.”

Hrgovic on his motivation and thoughts about this fight
“I already achieved a lot of things and I did everything what I wanted to do but I never won the title, and that’s the one thing, of course, I want to do. So, he’s the man in front of me and I must beat him of course to achieve that dream.

“I think I’m the best opponent he faced. I think he never been in the ring until now with someone like me, with that kind of experience, endurance, toughness, power. So, let’s see how good he is. Everyone says he’s a future superstar, future Lennox Lewis. Let’s see.

“For right now I’m not impressed. I must see something more than this to see if he’s the real deal…In his boxing career and his life, everything so far was easy. And he was a youth world champion, me as well, but I had a hard journey in amateur level, WSB, and professional career I was fighting like a lion to come into this position. I come from small country where no boxing on the map. So, of course he worked hard, but his road was much easier than mine so I think he’s never been in the ring with someone like me.”

Itauma on whether he has the attributes to beat Hrgovic
“What I need is to exploit his weaknesses, to exploit his tendencies. And to exploit his tendencies I don’t need to have speed, I don’t need to have power, I don’t need have all the attributes you just said. I have a very solid team…Not only that, I got ears that listen. So, it’s going to be an interesting fight and I know Hrgovic isn’t going to back down.”

An exchange between the fighters on their respective resumes

Hrgovic: I think you didn’t have any elite fights, right, in elite levels. Straight from youth level to professional boxing and he fought no one in professional boxing. So, of course he doesn’t have experience.”

Itauma: “You’re disrespecting my opponents now. You’re disrespecting Dillian Whyte, you’re disrespecting Demsey McKean.”

Hrgovic: “White was over the hill, everyone knows that. Franklin came totally unprepared. So over the hill, old already. They were good names but far over the hill.”

Itauma: “What was you doing at 21?”

Hrgovic: “I was boxing WSB. Harder fights —”

Itauma: “And I was 20 years old and you was boxing on my undercard. Give up some props.”

Hrgovic: “If I was British, you [would’ve been] boxing on my undercard. Imagine if you didn’t come [from] Great Britain. Imagine you from Slovakia, right. Imagine if you stay in Slovakia. No one would ever heard of you, man. So you’re from Great Britain, you got everything. You was youth world champion, I was myself. But no one didn’t give a f-ck about me because I was Croatian. So it’s different. I don’t disrespect you, this is just truth.”

[Ruthless-RKO]

Frank~Warren: Moses Itauma is the hottest young fighter in world boxing

Frank~Warren has praised his heavyweight contender Moses Itauma as one of the most exciting talents in the world.

Itauma takes on Filip Hrgovic at London’s O2 Arena on August 29 for the vacant IBF title, and while Itauma shuns the limelight, Warren said it is what his fighter does in the ring that has the fans buzzing.

“I think the fans have taken to him so much,” said the Hall of Fame promoter. “I really do believe that. Everyone talks and talks about him, whoever I meet, and they want to discuss boxing.

“His name is always in the top two fighters they speak about. And the proof’s in the pudding. That last show in Manchester, that was the highest-grossing boxing event they’ve had at a new stadium in Manchester. And that was his 14th fight.

“So the public have taken to him. You’ve seen them all. Let me ask you a question. Who do you think is the hottest fighter at this moment in time in boxing? Who’s the hottest young fighter in the world? It’s Moses. Everybody says that. American journalists, the American public, anybody who’s seen him, he’s on DAZN. His fights have been on DAZN, that’s shown around the world. All everybody talks about is Moses. So he’s got a lot to carry on his shoulders.”

Hrgovic has said that Itauma has been given the silver-spoon treatment, that he has been given his opportunities rather than earned them. Itauma has taken exception to the comments, and Warren was asked for his thoughts on them.

“When you have things put on a plate, you also have a lot of things put on your shoulders. And he’s got that. He’s carrying that, but he carries it well,” said Warren.

“And I think he’s a very mature young man. And I think he’s a delight to work with.”

Itauma might shy away from celebrity and fame, but he’s delivered where it matters most, racing to 14 rapid-fire wins, including a stoppage of US veteran Jermaine Franklin last time out.

“That’s what they pay for at the end of the day,” Warren added. “Look, Naz [Naseem Hamed] was a one-off, unbelievable, Marmite personality for some people. You loved him, you hated him. But one thing’s for sure, he was exciting to watch.

“And it’s the same thing with Moses. You’ve not seen Moses in a boring fight, not once. He gets in that ring, you can feel the anticipation, the electricity in the air.

“You can feel everybody on the edge of their seats waiting to see what he’s going to do.”

Warren was speaking the day after it was confirmed that Itauma-Hrgovic would now be for the title.

“Well, the timings are we'd already made the fight,” he explained. “It’s a great fight, it was always going to be a tough fight and a big test for Moses.

“And the fact that Usyk vacated the belts and [now there’s] this opportunity, we felt there was a big opportunity there for him to, or for us to, secure the crack at the title for him and upgrade the fight for the vacant belt, that’s what we did – so a deal was done with [Frank] Sanchez. And here we are. We’ve got, for Moses, the opportunity to become the second-youngest ever world heavyweight champion after Mike Tyson. He’s only had 14 fights, so this is a massive step up for him. You’ve all seen Hrgovic. He’s got a stellar amateur record, and as a pro, he’s only lost one fight.

“He’s got 15 KOs, he can punch, and he fancies it. He really does think that he’s got the skills to beat Moses. He thinks he’s got the experience, and we’re going to find out.

“Moses, as a pro, and if you look at the number of rounds he’s got under his belt, they’re not a lot of rounds, but we believe in him, and I do think this is a fight that I hope he comes through and will show the world what a talent he is.

“When he signed with us as an amateur, he said he wanted to be the youngest ever world champion. That was his ambition, and I think that, like all young fighters, when you’re young, you all want to do the best, be the best, and obviously, once he turned pro, you see what a steady road and how difficult that can be. But when I told him this happened, he was over the moon. It was like he’d resigned himself to… he wasn’t going to be the youngest champion because he’d passed the age that Mike Tyson had won the title at, but he was so thrilled. I mean, unbelievably thrilled. For him, this was the cherry on the cake. He wanted to fight, he wanted to fight Hrgovic, and having the IBF title on the line has made it even spicier, and more of a challenge.”

Warren, who has promoted several heavyweight champions over the years, including Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Fabio Wardley, Daniel Dubois and Frank Bruno, added: “Look, that’s what we do as promoters, and we invest in fighters that we believe in, and we’ve been investing in him since he was 16. It’s not something overnight, he’s been with us now for coming up to his sixth year since he signed with us. And this has all been part of the plan. And it’s a tough fight. I hope he wins it. I believe he can win it. If he doesn’t, it’s part of his education. But I do believe he can win it. But I don’t see this as being any easy job by any means.

“What I’ve seen of Moses up to now, and the calibre of the fighters he’s beaten, I know who the fighters are. Some obviously may not have been the fighters they were a couple of years ago. Having said that, that’s the same for all fighters coming through. But it’s how you win, how you go about your business. And the way he’s been fighting and the way he goes about his craft and applies his trade is far in front of anybody I can think of at his age.”

[joshj909]

An exchange between the fighters on their respective resumes

Hrgovic: I think you didn’t have any elite fights, right, in elite levels. Straight from youth level to professional boxing and he fought no one in professional boxing. So, of course he doesn’t have experience.”

Itauma: “You’re disrespecting my opponents now. You’re disrespecting Dillian Whyte, you’re disrespecting Demsey McKean.”

Hrgovic: “White was over the hill, everyone knows that. Franklin came totally unprepared. So over the hill, old already. They were good names but far over the hill.”

Itauma: “What was you doing at 21?”

Hrgovic: “I was boxing WSB. Harder fights —”

Itauma: “And I was 20 years old and you was boxing on my undercard. Give up some props.”

Hrgovic: “If I was British, you [would’ve been] boxing on my undercard. Imagine if you didn’t come [from] Great Britain. Imagine you from Slovakia, right. Imagine if you stay in Slovakia. No one would ever heard of you, man. So you’re from Great Britain, you got everything. You was youth world champion, I was myself. But no one didn’t give a f-ck about me because I was Croatian. So it’s different. I don’t disrespect you, this is just truth.”

Hegovic told no lies

[Ruthless-RKO]

An exchange between the fighters on their respective resumes

Hrgovic: I think you didn’t have any elite fights, right, in elite levels. Straight from youth level to professional boxing and he fought no one in professional boxing. So, of course he doesn’t have experience.”

Itauma: “You’re disrespecting my opponents now. You’re disrespecting Dillian Whyte, you’re disrespecting Demsey McKean.”

Hrgovic: “White was over the hill, everyone knows that. Franklin came totally unprepared. So over the hill, old already. They were good names but far over the hill.”

Itauma: “What was you doing at 21?”

Hrgovic: “I was boxing WSB. Harder fights —”

Itauma: “And I was 20 years old and you was boxing on my undercard. Give up some props.”

Hrgovic: “If I was British, you [would’ve been] boxing on my undercard. Imagine if you didn’t come [from] Great Britain. Imagine you from Slovakia, right. Imagine if you stay in Slovakia. No one would ever heard of you, man. So you’re from Great Britain, you got everything. You was youth world champion, I was myself. But no one didn’t give a f-ck about me because I was Croatian. So it’s different. I don’t disrespect you, this is just truth.”

Hegovic told no lies

crazy aint it. Itauma comes across a little (cant even find the bloody words).. Hrgovic just straight spitting facts.

Can't say anything about Hrg's pedigree

[jameswilson]

This isn't the fight to be getting cocky with. This could easily be one of those 'fucked it up at the final hurdle' jobs.

[MightyWarrior]

Hrgovic is tough, battle hardened and this is his ticket to millions, he's right to think no one knows if Moses Is the real deal yet: what happens when he's getting hit, and things aren't going his way and his punches are slowing down... That's when we'll really know.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Unfazed by IBF title upgrade, Itauma pinpoints Kabayel as 'biggest rival'

Moses Itauma insists he felt nothing when he heard his London showdown with Filip Hrgovic had been upgraded to a world heavyweight title fight.

Itauma (14-0, 12 KOs) and Hrgovic (20-1, 15 KOs) were already set to meet at London’s O2 Arena on August 29, but they will fight for the IBF title vacated by Oleksandr Usyk in June.

The IBF had initially ordered Itauma to face Frank Sanchez for the belt, but the Englishman’s promoters Queensberry managed to do a deal to ensure the belt is on the line in London with Sanchez guaranteed a shot at the winner.

It means Itauma has the chance to become history’s second youngest world heavyweight champion at 21 years and eight months, knocking Floyd Patterson into third.

But when asked for his reaction when the news was confirmed by his promoter allegedly, the southpaw insists shrugged it off.
“I didn't really have any reaction,” he told a media roundtable on Friday. “If I'm already fighting Hrgovic and I've got the opportunity for it to be a world title, I said, ‘yeah, chuck the world title on the line.’

“I didn't really have any feeling about it. I was taking Hrgovic seriously anyway, and now that the fight's for a world title, I'm still taking him seriously. It’s the same fight isn’t it?”

Itauma has emerged as one of the most destructive finishers in the division over the course of his first 14 fights. All but two have finished inside the distance and 11 of his 12 stoppages came inside two rounds.

Jermaine Franklin managed to extend him into the fifth round during his last outing, which took place at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena in March.

Itauma expects Hrgovic, the 34-year-old from Croatia, to prove even more durable.

“Of course, he's a very good fighter,” Itauma said.

“He's only had one defeat and he only lost that because of a cut so he's solid. I'm in for a long night, but I'll be all right.”
Beyond Hrgovic, the Chatham, Kent, native was asked to identify which of the contenders he expects to challenge as the next dominant force in the division.

But while Warren has suggested a 2027 superfight with fellow Brit Daniel Dubois, the WBO heavyweight champion, Itauma highlighted the WBC king as his stiffest competition.

“It’ll have to be Agit Kabayel,” he said. “He’s beaten everybody that's there. ... He’s pretty much beaten everyone who is rising right now so I'd probably say he will probably be the biggest rival, if that makes sense.”

[Taansend]

I see Tony Curtis is on the undercard.

He's from my old neck of the woods in Woolwich/Plumstead. Some mates still in the area rate him highly.

Interesting career so far. It looks like he turned pro at 16 in Mexico (weighing 99 pounds) & lost over 4, then fought in Thailand & mainly Dubai til he reached 18 then his last three fights have been in England.

Now 13-1 & fighting at Superfly. Maybe we'll have a super fight between him & Jack Turner in a couple of years

[Ruthless-RKO]

[JamesPhilips]

I see Tony Curtis is on the undercard.

He's from my old neck of the woods in Woolwich/Plumstead. Some mates still in the area rate him highly.

Interesting career so far. It looks like he turned pro at 16 in Mexico (weighing 99 pounds) & lost over 4, then fought in Thailand & mainly Dubai til he reached 18 then his last three fights have been in England.

Now 13-1 & fighting at Superfly. Maybe we'll have a super fight between him & Jack Turner in a couple of years

I think he’s going to go nowhere. No idea why Roy Jones is involved. He is a powder puff puncher but also his defence isn’t that special. He still has the physique of a 13 yr old. He has a few flashy moves and is young but can’t see it.

Also, whilst the main event is a good un, the undercard is poor. And it’s PPV of course. NOT BUYING THIS

[Ruthless-RKO]

I think he’s tapped

[joshj909]

I think he’s tapped

Seems to think that the only way to lose is to go down. He's been soundly beaten without going down before. He's also admitted that Usyk KO'd him on his feet in sparring. He can't try and homer Simpson everyone in the ring and complain when it doesn't work. He's not managed to hurt anyone of note before so why would they fold immediately to the floor when he gets his chance.

[Boxerbeetle]

He’s obviously joking

[Grilling Machine]

I'm ready for something of a travesty with this one, and I don't blame George Groves.

I think there's an extremely high chance of Itauma jumping on Hrg early and having him all over the shop, giving some home ref the horn to fill the first available gap. Hrg's 5/1, which in a legit enterprise would be too generous. But it's not, so it isn't.

Cos he's seriously hard to stop, Hrg, seemingly checking out against Zhang for McCallish walkabouts, but staying upright to the end. Leaky defence; good chin. Without a bent ref I'd fancy him to survive the early heat and possibly overcome Itauma down the stretch. That's unless Itauma could answer our cardio doubts or Hrg just faded.

Betting on boxing's so hazardous now and I think this fight's a glaring example of why. Like 5/1 should be reasonable expected value if you didn't have to second guess the external factors. Fair play if Itauma nails him with a bomb, but please give the man a square go if he's standing hurt.

I've said I think Hrg's overrated by many for a long time, but he certainly has more about him than anyone else Itauma's fought so far. I hope it's allowed to be the fight it should be.

[gregregegg]

This is now a world levle event. It is very important the ref knows that. Can’t be having it stopped first decent flurry. (But it probably will be)

[forcefraser]

This is now a world levle event. It is very important the ref knows that. Can’t be having it stopped first decent flurry. (But it probably will be)

Do we know who the ref is?

If it's Foster we will either get Hrgovic stopped after a flurry, or A side Itamu beaten from pillar to post Wardley style and the towel thrown in

[golden_labrador]

yeah I really hope we see an improvement in refereeing in that regard. Hrg has a chin on him and Moses can bang, so a premature stoppage is a big risk of happening. also I hope it's not cuts again for Hrg. he bleeds almost as much as Fab.

And if Hrg can be exhausted in the 8th round against David Adelaye, he'd better hope he KO's Mo before that otherwise he should get some hugging practice in now. Mo will tee off on him at will

[JamesPhilips]

yeah I really hope we see an improvement in refereeing in that regard. Hrg has a chin on him and Moses can bang, so a premature stoppage is a big risk of happening. also I hope it's not cuts again for Hrg. he bleeds almost as much as Fab.

And if Hrg can be exhausted in the 8th round against David Adelaye, he'd better hope he KO's Mo before that otherwise he should get some hugging practice in now. Mo will tee off on him at will

Hrgovic is just not hard to hit and as you say cuts easily. I can see a British style stoppage with endless arguments breaking online and people endlessly trying to silence people saying it was a quick stoppage by simplistically saying "I’d rather it was stopped too early than too late!"


Filip is a decent but not explosive hitter. After watching Itauma’s legs dip from a jab in the Franklin fight I do think Hrgovic has a chance with fair officiating especially as it’s a 12 rounder.

[golden_labrador]

yeah I really hope we see an improvement in refereeing in that regard. Hrg has a chin on him and Moses can bang, so a premature stoppage is a big risk of happening. also I hope it's not cuts again for Hrg. he bleeds almost as much as Fab.

And if Hrg can be exhausted in the 8th round against David Adelaye, he'd better hope he KO's Mo before that otherwise he should get some hugging practice in now. Mo will tee off on him at will

Hrgovic is just not hard to hit and as you say cuts easily. I can see a British style stoppage with endless arguments breaking online and people endlessly trying to silence people saying it was a quick stoppage by simplistically saying "I’d rather it was stopped too early than too late!"

I'm normally one of those people but Hrg can take punches so it shouldn't be stopped unless he's not throwing back at all. I see Moses winning by KO but likely when Hrg is knackered and bleeding everywhere

[JamesPhilips]

yeah I really hope we see an improvement in refereeing in that regard. Hrg has a chin on him and Moses can bang, so a premature stoppage is a big risk of happening. also I hope it's not cuts again for Hrg. he bleeds almost as much as Fab.

And if Hrg can be exhausted in the 8th round against David Adelaye, he'd better hope he KO's Mo before that otherwise he should get some hugging practice in now. Mo will tee off on him at will

Hrgovic is just not hard to hit and as you say cuts easily. I can see a British style stoppage with endless arguments breaking online and people endlessly trying to silence people saying it was a quick stoppage by simplistically saying "I’d rather it was stopped too early than too late!"

I'm normally one of those people but Hrg can take punches so it shouldn't be stopped unless he's not throwing back at all. I see Moses winning by KO but likely when Hrg is knackered and bleeding everywhere

Yeah Hrgovic has that feel of a guy who isn’t that motivated. He gasses. I think he might get a battering early and busted up.

[golden_labrador]

Hrgovic is just not hard to hit and as you say cuts easily. I can see a British style stoppage with endless arguments breaking online and people endlessly trying to silence people saying it was a quick stoppage by simplistically saying "I’d rather it was stopped too early than too late!"

I'm normally one of those people but Hrg can take punches so it shouldn't be stopped unless he's not throwing back at all. I see Moses winning by KO but likely when Hrg is knackered and bleeding everywhere

Yeah Hrgovic has that feel of a guy who isn’t that motivated. He gasses. I think he might get a battering early and busted up.

he survived Zhang so it's not a given Moses can crack that chin

[JamesPhilips]

I'm normally one of those people but Hrg can take punches so it shouldn't be stopped unless he's not throwing back at all. I see Moses winning by KO but likely when Hrg is knackered and bleeding everywhere

Yeah Hrgovic has that feel of a guy who isn’t that motivated. He gasses. I think he might get a battering early and busted up.

he survived Zhang so it's not a given Moses can crack that chin

I hope so. We want to see Itauma tested. But it’s not just chin it’s cuts

[KiwiRider]

I'm normally one of those people but Hrg can take punches so it shouldn't be stopped unless he's not throwing back at all. I see Moses winning by KO but likely when Hrg is knackered and bleeding everywhere

Yeah Hrgovic has that feel of a guy who isn’t that motivated. He gasses. I think he might get a battering early and busted up.

he survived Zhang so it's not a given Moses can crack that chin

Very good point.

It's about the only thing going for this fight that has been way too long in happening.

[Riddick Bowie]

The script is that Moses becomes champion. It Hrgovic so much as blinks expect the ref to dive in and wave him off -- especially if he's looking remotely threatening beforehand.

[JamesPhilips]

The script is that Moses becomes champion. It Hrgovic so much as blinks expect the ref to dive in and wave him off -- especially if he's looking remotely threatening beforehand.

Unfortunately that’s what I think