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

[646703]

Howard to grab Filip in a headlock after a flurry lol

[gregregegg]

Hrg is light. Don't know ow what that means for his strategy, or his chin...

Either way hrg stopped standing seems the most likely uk outcome.

[jameswilson]

The ref was close to jumping in when Hrgovic got shoved off the stage there to be fair but he did manage to land one back so he was given the benefit of the doubt.

[Grilling Machine]

Foster special to the growling strains of Cobbles.

[stujones]

I think Hrgovic is also a somewhat unknown quantity. When he was with matchroom he was hyped as a champion in the making, number 2 to Joshua.

The Zhang scraping by was perceived as good learning fight. He was quite an overwhelming favourite to be Dubois. When he lost that, he was highlighted as “exposed”, “written off” etc. but somehow his comeback fights have now almost put him ahead of where he was before Dubois.

It’s odd as such is the poor landscape of the division I’ve seen some reports suggesting he could beat any of the belt holders but there could also be a very legitimate argument that he was out of the top ten when he lost to Dubois and wins against Joyce (where he possibly took too many punches given how slow Joyce is), Adylade (where he definitely took to many) and Allen do not mean you have warranted a place in the 10 and he should be ranked / viewed as he was immediately post Dubios

Personally I do rate him and I think he gives the three belt holders a tough fight.

[maninthemiddle]

Terence Crawford, Shakur Stevenson will NEVER have boxed in America without an American ref…
In most if not all cases they will also have boxed “foreigners” with a full set of US judges..so why does a British forum have such an issue with the much “lighter” approach with “local” officials for a UK fighter? UK judges if used will be in the minority.. Hrgovic fought in the Uk before… don’t recall any issues he’s had in the past?? In fact Foster refereed his contest with Joe Joyce…??

[THEBUTCH]

The English, in general, like fairness. Certainly compared to a good many other countries who are more than happy to win by any means.

Your post does raise a good question

[Boxerbeetle]

Maybe because a ‘British stoppage’ is basically in the common boxing parlance. American stoppage, not so much. God knows how many examples this forum could list if we put our minds to it.

Still, there’s plenty of very dodgy American officials who have been regularly called out by fans over the years, it’s not a uniquely British thing. Just a lot worse over here.

[THEBUTCH]

Some of the continental referees begger belief !

[gregregegg]

When did the title get out on the line? That's a great get.

[forcefraser]

Terence Crawford, Shakur Stevenson will NEVER have boxed in America without an American ref…
In most if not all cases they will also have boxed “foreigners” with a full set of US judges..so why does a British forum have such an issue with the much “lighter” approach with “local” officials for a UK fighter? UK judges if used will be in the minority.. Hrgovic fought in the Uk before… don’t recall any issues he’s had in the past?? In fact Foster refereed his contest with Joe Joyce…??

World Title fight

I think the issue is not so much that it's unfair, it's more to do with the fact that we don't want yet another fight ruined by the home cooking ref jumping in after a flurry and stopping the away fighter too early

[1529048]

Hrg is light. Don't know ow what that means for his strategy, or his chin...

Either way hrg stopped standing seems the most likely uk outcome.

Weirdly it feels to me like he almost drained. I recall Chris Bird once told the story on how he decided to slim down back to light heavyweight and just essentially ran some miles and cut calories and pretty quickly managed to get the weight, but once he actually came into the ring he found out that his speed and power were just gone...which makes sense with straight up weight loss through cutting calories you lose muscle a swell and with improper pace of that you can also get other kind of problems. So to me Hrgovic look kinda reminded that story to be fair, he may suddenly appear too weak and too slow all of a sudden on the night.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[Shirow]

I tend to think, like most people that Moses will win by TKO. I see Hrgovic being rocked for a sustained period sort of like Parker at the end of the Wardley fight but longer and the ref stepping in. He can't clinch well, his defence is leaky and he won't be throwing back for 20 seconds of battering so I see him being stopped on his feet.

But can anyone else imagine this looking a lot like Froch v Groves 1. Moses comes out fast and athletic maybe scores a very early knockdown but Hrg is slower, steadier and hard as nails like Froch. Itauma hasn't shown he can box in a style that can go rounds. Against Franklin he was started to looked puffed out because of how much energy his style takes. He can't maintain that for 8 let alone 12 rounds. It will be interesting to see if he has learnt to slow things down and stay effective - if it goes that far..

[Kilburn]

Good take Jon. I do think while Froch soaked up the heat and was on his way to legitimately stopping Groves, a loss for Moses in this fight could be one of those where the more athletic but inexperienced guy succumbs to his own output as much as his opponents punching.

It’s not difficult to envisage an ominous moment where Moses’ energy drops suddenly at some point, maybe even a lot earlier than expected.

But ever since this fight was first mooted I’ve fancied Moses for the stoppage. Hrg regularly offers an inviting target (and then even more target after he gets clipped), usually starts to look knackered himself after a few rounds at a pace, and doesn’t exactly have a fantastic repertoire of punches. Moses surely won’t be easy to catch clean.

I just hope if it’s a TKO for Moses, then Hrg is sufficiently on Queer Street at the time, and just as importantly, there is not even a hint that Moses’ own tank was about to run dry. The shit storm on Boxrec after that sort of scenario would not be pretty.

[MightyWarrior]

Yeah, could get very interesting, or worrying, if Hrgovic is still there in rounds 7,8 and starts landing that arcing right hand of his as Moses tires a bit, I also think Ben Davidson is not very bright at all and runs out of ideas when things don’t go to plan.

Moses looks quite small next to the Croatian.

I have noticed Moses looking quite unconcerned about punches coming back his way in some of his fights, never a good sign.

[Old bones Ian]

Interesting how wide the bookies have it, just at Ladbrokes and Hrgovic is 7/1 to win by KO, TKO and they have him 5/1 to win in any fashion.

Got my eye on 7/1 for a point deduction for any boxer.

And cheeky couple of quid on 18/1 on Hrgovic to win on points.

[Heldenjaeger]

Howard "Follow the Money" Foster as referee? Against Itauma, the new golden goose? Great. The deck already looks stacked.
A guy with zero senior amateur fights and zero top-30 wins somehow ends up fighting for a vacant heavyweight world title and if Hrgovic somehow gets through Itauma, the referee, the judges and whatever else Uncle Frank has lined up, he’ll probably get fed straight to the Wardley/Dubois rematch winner with the deck stacked even harder next time.
Only in boxing. Nobody seriously expects Hrgovic to get fair treatment in a heavyweight world-title fight.

[TBA]

Howard Foster would have found a way to stop Vitali Klitchsko against Danny Williams.

[unknownman79]

I thought it would be stopped after a few flurries in the corner. Now Howard Foster is the ref i'm 1 million per cent that will happen.

[keithmoonhangover]

50pts Hrgovic by any method 6-1
25 points Hrgovic stoppage rounds 7-9 at 32-1
25 Points Hrgovic stoppage rounds 10-12 at 40-1

Gotta be worth a punt

Not for me, I wouldn't be betting against the house fighter.

I've lumped on the fight not to go the distance, got 1/4 at Coral.

[gilgamesh]

50pts Hrgovic by any method 6-1
25 points Hrgovic stoppage rounds 7-9 at 32-1
25 Points Hrgovic stoppage rounds 10-12 at 40-1

Gotta be worth a punt

Not for me, I wouldn't be betting against the house fighter.

I've lumped on the fight not to go the distance, got 1/4 at Coral.

Every now and again the sport throws you a bone, and there'll be a guy that's set as a big underdog that shouldn't be, but more often than not when someone is as big an underdog as Hrgovic is here. The oddsmakers are correct.

The fight not to go the distance seems pretty likely either way.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Fight Night!!

[Ruthless-RKO]

TENSIONS BOIL OVER AS HRGOVIC SLAPS ITAUMA AT WEIGH-IN

Filip Hrgovic cranked up the heat in East London by slapping Moses Itauma at their weigh-in on Friday evening.

The pair traded verbals in their final face-off after hitting the scales at Spitalfields Market.
But tempers flared when they turned to face the crowd and Itauma pushed Hrgovic in the back, causing him to fall off the two-foot-high temporary stage.

But Hrgovic (20-1, 15 KOs) climbed back up, walked straight over to Itauma and planted a right-hand slap on his cheek before security guards stepped in to separate them.

Itauma (14-0, 12 KOs) admitted this week that the 34-year-old Croatian has started to wind him up with a tirade of what he described as “schoolboy banter." After the scuffle, Itauma said: “I had an itch and I had to scratch it.”

The pair meet at London’s O2 Arena for the vacant IBF heavyweight title in the main event on DAZN pay-per-view Saturday night.

Itauma, vying to become Britain's youngest ever world heavyweight champion, was the heavier of the two on the scales, weighing in at 241 ¾ pounds, a shade lighter than when he knocked out Jermaine Franklin in March.

Meanwhile, Hrgovic came in at just 236 ¼ pounds which was his lightest weight since August 2019 when he stopped Mario Heredia at 233 ¼. It means Hrgovic has shed 12 pounds in the three months since he stopped Dave Allen in Doncaster.

After the bust-up, which was quickly nullified by security, promoter allegedly said: “I’m a bit surprised myself at what happened. He’s not normally like this, Moses. He’s up for it and he wants it badly as does Filip.

“This is a big moment for Moses, he’s 21 years of age fighting for the world heavyweight title. This is history making stuff. He wants to stamp his authority and I think that’s what he was trying to do there."

[Ruthless-RKO]