Round-by-Round: Moses Itauma vs. Filip Hrgovic - 29 August 2026

[PRINCEKOOL]

I have not been one of the individuals within the boxing community who has got carried away with Moses Itauma 'you quite simply cannot rate a fighter at world level until? They have genuinely fought at that level'.

But I have stated in the past? That Moses Itauma looks to be a front runner 'that has really been my only assessment of his thus-far in his career until tonight'.

Note: I am not going to bash Moses Itauma while he is down 'he has obviously suffered quite a brutal loss last night, at a stage in his career when true great fighters excel. At least Itauma has now identified where he needs to improve'.

I think tonight puts a lot of things in perspective 'Great fighters have the ability to win defining fights. Both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have won defining fights, Fury did it vs. Wladimir Kitschko and Joshua did it in the Olympics and then vs. Wladimir Kiltschko in the professional ranks'.

If you want to be a great fighter 'you have to perform during those defining moments. At some point in your career, the facts are? The very first time Moses Itauma has been put in that sort of situation he has lost and in brutal fashion'.

I think a lot of British boxing fans 'and even people in the media, were disrespecting both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Neither of those fighters has retired, and we know for sure in the case of Anthony Joshua? That he has ambitions to become a 3 times World Heavyweight Champion'.

Congratulations to Filip Hrgovic 'great fight and performance. Moses fought hard and gallantly, but he lost NOW he is in the fight game. There is No Easy Way Out' etc.

[forcefraser]

I haven’t watched it back on TV but I was there last night and, having seen enough hype trains derailed in my time, never thought this was a particularly good fight for Moses at this stage and figured that we might see an upset.

So… what a great fight! Best one I’ve been to live in years! Low level but relatively entertaining undercard (a couple of fun crap heavyweight fights) and some solid bits of crowd violence

Moses landed the kitchen sink on Hrgovic and just going into every round trying to KO him when he’s never ever even looked liked being KO’d in his career (Even the Zhang KD, Zhang kind of just dragged him to the floor) was not smart boxing and you could just see Hrgovic gradually drowning him. Not the greatest bit of matchmaking from Fwank who should shoulder some of the blame.

.Ben Davison is the real villain of the piece here in my opinion. He keeps on being handed very talented guys and all of them get the shit beaten out of them and stopped or just manage to pull out a from behind win. Itauma clearly has all of the talent in the world and put on quite the show in the early rounds but when it became clear that Hrgovic wasn’t going anywhere, where was the corner advice to take a round off or go for a walk or just get behind your jab for a bit? There was no plan B. Davison is a charlatan conman. It’s so obvious, why do all of these big promoters and managers trust him with their fighters health?

Big congratulations to Filip Hrgovic! The likes of Joshua and Fury have barely ever said his name for their careers and he has been slugging away for a long time, taking whatever scraps he’s been thrown just to keep a career going and finally getting a well deserved shot. I wonder where he’ll go from here? A unification with Kabayel in Germany could be on the cards for him, surely?

Brilliant fight from both men who gave it everything. Back into the gym for Moses and a rebuild. He is, after all, only 21, not much proper amateur experience and has, if we look past all of the massive overhype, given a brilliant account of himself against a serious seasoned pro who could’ve been world champ already with different ref in the Dubois fight. I hope meanwhile Hrgovic can get himself some big fights.

You could tell something was going on in the crowd at the start of the 5th.

Was it the Norwegians there to support the Last Viking Narmo causing havoc again or a domestic dust up?

It was a pair of pissed up white English blokes who didn't know where their seats were and kept on getting moved on by people as they would just sit in somebody's seats when they went to the bar. They did it 3 times near us and people were sort of taking them for a bit of a joke, it was an older bloke and a younger bloke, maybe a father and son? Anyway, during the main event it suddenly all went mental on the other side of the walkway to us and I couldn't see the old boy but I could see the younger bloke throwing hands and I think he took out several people. It was far out. I had to force myself to look away when security finally got involved as the fight I'd paid to see was happening in front of me.

But it was second best fight of the night.

There was another big brawl on the other side of the arena to me in the far corner, I think during the Sam Noakes fight? It was the rowdiest show I've been to for some time. Conversely, we spoke to quite a lot of people throughout the evening and everybody was very nice.

Always a chance of something kicking off at the boxing

You can see the crowd pre occupied with something in the crowd and it was pretty obvious at the start of the 5th

Most of the trouble I saw at events were usually on the way home.

[mickey1975]

I have not been one of the individuals within the boxing community who has got carried away with Moses Itauma 'you quite simply cannot rate a fighter at world level until? They have genuinely fought at that level'.

But I have stated in the past? That Moses Itauma looks to be a front runner 'that has really been my only assessment of his thus-far in his career until tonight'.

Note: I am not going to bash Moses Itauma while he is down 'he has obviously suffered quite a brutal loss last night, at a stage in his career when true great fighters excel. At least Itauma has no identified where he needs to improve'.

I think tonight puts a lot of things in perspective 'Great fighters have the ability to win defining fights. Both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have won defining fights, Fury did it vs. Wladimir Kitschko and Joshua did it in the Olympics and then vs. Wladimir Kiltschko in the professional ranks'.

If you want to be a great fighter 'you have to perform during those defining moments. At some point in your career, the facts are? The very first time Moses Itauma has been put in that sort of situation he has lost and in brutal fashion'.

I think a lot of British boxing fans 'and even people in the media, were disrespecting both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Neither of those fighters has retired, and we know for sure in the case of Anthony Joshua? That he has ambitions to become a 3 times World Heavyweight Champion'.

Congratulations to Filip Hrgovic 'great fight and performance. Moses fought hard and gallantly, but he lost NOW he is in the fight game. There is No Easy Way Out' etc.

Very good post.

[Tony1244]

It's a loss, but it's not a Duane Bobick type of loss, meaning I don't think Moses was exposed. I wasn't thinking, he'll never be able to fight at an elite level. At the risk of stating the obvious, he simply petered out. That can be corrected.

[wrighty]

I have not been one of the individuals within the boxing community who has got carried away with Moses Itauma 'you quite simply cannot rate a fighter at world level until? They have genuinely fought at that level'.

But I have stated in the past? That Moses Itauma looks to be a front runner 'that has really been my only assessment of his thus-far in his career until tonight'.

Note: I am not going to bash Moses Itauma while he is down 'he has obviously suffered quite a brutal loss last night, at a stage in his career when true great fighters excel. At least Itauma has now identified where he needs to improve'.

I think tonight puts a lot of things in perspective 'Great fighters have the ability to win defining fights. Both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have won defining fights, Fury did it vs. Wladimir Kitschko and Joshua did it in the Olympics and then vs. Wladimir Kiltschko in the professional ranks'.

If you want to be a great fighter 'you have to perform during those defining moments. At some point in your career, the facts are? The very first time Moses Itauma has been put in that sort of situation he has lost and in brutal fashion'.

I think a lot of British boxing fans 'and even people in the media, were disrespecting both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. Neither of those fighters has retired, and we know for sure in the case of Anthony Joshua? That he has ambitions to become a 3 times World Heavyweight Champion'.

Congratulations to Filip Hrgovic 'great fight and performance. Moses fought hard and gallantly, but he lost NOW he is in the fight game. There is No Easy Way Out' etc.

I thought he was the goods and looked great. I also said that about David Price. In reality I got carried away with both and believe they were rushed. Throwing Price in with Thompson that early was mad following wins over Sprott, Sexton and Harrison. Throwing Moses Itauma in with Hrgovic for a world title after a washed out Dillain Whyte, Jared Anderson and Mckean was a bit mad.

Itauma could have benefited winning the British and european title and fighting some of those contenders for a few more fights to get that seasoning and experience but that's why I'm not a boxing manager. What do I know?

He's a great talent. I hope he comes back. I hope Hrgovic makes his money and legacy as he's a warrior

[margaret thatcher]

moses is still super talented, and a first loss as a 21 year old, being way ahead of a tough contender like hrg until lateish, is hardly the worst loss a good fighter has taken

its fair play people getting a bit joyously negative, with how crazy the hype was, but lets be real, there's still a lot of potential there. blazing hand speed, stinging power, combinations, reflexes. he showed some chin too. people have criticized his stamina, but i think at least a significant part of that is throwing way too many homerun shots and having no experience needing to have paced himself, rather than just plainly being unfit. the shortcomings arent his natural talents, it's more things that can be molded if he's serious, not mentally deflated by this, and gets the right team behind him

but those are all question marks for now

[wrighty]

moses is still super talented, and a first loss as a 21 year old, being way ahead of a tough contender like hrg until lateish, is hardly the worst loss a good fighter has taken

its fair play people getting a bit joyously negative, with how crazy the hype was, but lets be real, there's still a lot of potential there. blazing hand speed, stinging power, combinations, reflexes. he showed some chin too. people have criticized his stamina, but i think at least a significant part of that is throwing way too many homerun shots and having no experience needing to have paced himself, rather than just plainly being unfit. the shortcomings arent his natural talents, it's more things that can be molded if he's serious, not mentally deflated by this, and gets the right team behind him

but those are all question marks for now

He's got lovely skills and can whack. He will still be a force. He just needs the right rebuilding

[margaret thatcher]

ya i agree.

[Eolaithe]

Itauma started very well, throwing sharp combinations and mixing attacks to the head and body.

As expected, Itauma built an early lead. Hrgović, however, remained calm and patient.

He used his experience, knowing Itauma would be explosive early, and absorbed some thunderous punches without panicking or appearing seriously hurt.

There was a question over whether Itauma’s body shots might eventually slow him down, but Hrgović handled those well too. More importantly, while Itauma was constantly moving, feinting and exploding in and out of range, Hrgović conserved his energy.

Itauma sometimes tried to do the same by touching and fencing with his lead hand. The problem came whenever he wanted a break.

Hrgović would step forward and apply pressure. He did not even need to throw much. His presence alone appeared to make Itauma uncomfortable. Whenever Itauma slowed down, Hrgović advanced, often causing Itauma to respond with several hard punches simply to push him back.

Itauma had never really faced this before: an opponent who could absorb his best punches, remain calm and keep coming forward.

Inexperience was probably a major factor. Itauma had usually been the fighter imposing himself on opponents — the “bully” in the ring. Now somebody was refusing to back away and was instead walking towards him.

Itauma was still winning the rounds, but from around the third Hrgović increasingly applied this pressure. Itauma responded too aggressively and never allowed himself to rest properly.

If Itauma was not physically tiring himself by throwing powerful combinations, he was being mentally pressured by a big, strong heavyweight constantly advancing. He probably felt he could never completely relax.

Even the second-round knockdown did not affect Hrgović mentally. The experienced veteran simply got up and continued.

From the third round onwards, an important pattern developed: Itauma remained ahead and landed big punches, but Hrgović would not go away.

Eventually Itauma needed to ask himself: “What happens if this man cannot be knocked out?”

Does he accept that Hrgović may go 12 rounds, or continue trying to stop him?
That is where Itauma made his crucial strategic mistake.

In round eight, after appearing to hurt Hrgović with several big punches, Itauma launched another huge attack despite already running low on energy.

He had a choice: chase the knockout or recognise that Filip had survived everything so far and use those successful punches to earn Hrgović’s respect, slow the pace and recover.

Instead, Itauma went for the finish.

Chasing a knockout consumes enormous energy, particularly when you are already tired. By then, Itauma had landed tremendous punches throughout the fight without coming particularly close to stopping Hrgović.

He needed to accept: “This guy is probably going 12 rounds.”

Itauma was winning. His priority should therefore have changed from knocking Hrgović out to preserving enough energy to reach the final bell.

Even sacrificing one or two rounds would have been preferable to emptying his remaining tank.

Instead, Itauma threw everything into round eight and finished it exhausted.

Hrgović and his corner appeared to recognise this. Until then, Hrgović had been persistent but relatively cautious because he respected Itauma’s explosiveness. In round nine, that changed completely. Hrgović attacked.

The situation had now reversed. Itauma had spent his career bullying and overwhelming opponents; suddenly he was being pressured by a bigger, stronger and more experienced heavyweight.

Itauma was exhausted. Hrgović had more energy and far more experience of difficult fights. Hrgović knew how to navigate the situation; Itauma had never previously needed to.

Itauma’s inexperience showed again because he could have clinched more, held Hrgović, slowed the fight down and killed time.

Instead, even while exhausted, Itauma continued trying to throw huge punches. Without the energy to execute them properly, they became wide, wild and inaccurate.

But he needed to adapt. When your energy is disappearing, throw shorter, tighter punches. Stop putting maximum power into everything. Clinch when necessary, slow the pace and concentrate on surviving the rounds.

Itauma was still ahead on points at the time of the stoppage. Reaching the final bell might have been enough to win the world title.

Instead, continuing to throw huge clumsy punches exhausted him further and made it obvious that he was physically spent.

Had Itauma preserved more energy, he might still have struggled badly in the final rounds, but he would at least have given himself a better chance of reaching the final bell.

This may simply have been inexperience. Whether it also raises questions about his heart or character is impossible to know yet. Those questions can only be answered as his career develops.

But adversity reveals things about fighters that easy victories cannot. Before Hrgović, Itauma had almost always been in control. We had never really seen how he would react when a fight stopped going his way.

That does not mean he will fall apart whenever he faces adversity in the future. He may instead use this defeat as an important learning experience.

[KiwiRider]

It's a loss, but it's not a Duane Bobick type of loss, meaning I don't think Moses was exposed. I wasn't thinking, he'll never be able to fight at an elite level. At the risk of stating the obvious, he simply petered out. That can be corrected.

I agree, but the annoying thing is he petered out in the Franklin fight at around the same time (4th) and they (Boxercise Ben) had 5 months to work on that.
So either Ben- who has a reputation for getting fighters in shape- failed, or Moses doesn't have a good engine.
Fwank will match him a little bit more carefully and we will have to see...

[JC]

Haye/Wlad style rebuild.

[knockout]

Last nights fight had a chance of going the way it did, plenty of ppl suggested it could happen.

Obviously came a bit too early for Moses and Hrgovic being in career best shape didn’t help.

But Moses showed he has heart , balls and a decent chin. So there are positives to take away.

He clearly needs a bit more experience , preparation and time to develop into a 12 round fighter.

We have seen it before with Haye, Vlad, DDD.. got stepped up a bit early after not doing enough rounds and got stopped.

I have no doubt Moses can be a world champion, as long as he still has the hunger and drive after that first loss.

He needs longer sparring sessions and come fight night, not burn up too much energy trying to blast ppl out . Soften them up first accumulate the points & wear them down with accurate shots.

Few HWs have the durability of Hrgovic

[dempseyfire]

Here's one thing no-one is saying. Itauma is a 21 year old professional athlete. I understand that all bodies are different, but I've always been bothered that Ituama comes into fights looking pretty soft/not very trim and lean. At 21 doing intense training he should be looking much better; last night showed why.

He's also scoring knockouts do to being strong and explosive/fast, but he's not particularly heavy handed. He's not putting guys to sleep like a Razor Ruddock or Shavers did. He's catching guys with punches they don't see. Holyfield was accruing a lot of KOs early in his career doing the same thing. Heck quick-handed Eddie Machen was billed as a puncher due to knocking out something like 17 of his first 18 opponents (with a better resume than Ituama had). But he has fairly small hands and isn't hurting guys when they see the shots coming. A guy like Bruno would hurt you even if you braced yourself.

Hopefully he's OK but should he continue, he needs to evolve into a boxer first and puncher second; not a guy looking to get an early knockout. He also needs to double down on conditioning.

[wrighty]

A fight with Richard Riakporhe at some stage would be good

[Tony1244]

It's a loss, but it's not a Duane Bobick type of loss, meaning I don't think Moses was exposed. I wasn't thinking, he'll never be able to fight at an elite level. At the risk of stating the obvious, he simply petered out. That can be corrected.

I agree, but the annoying thing is he petered out in the Franklin fight at around the same time (4th) and they (Boxercise Ben) had 5 months to work on that.
So either Ben- who has a reputation for getting fighters in shape- failed, or Moses doesn't have a good engine.
Fwank will match him a little bit more carefully and we will have to see...

Moses needs to learn to control his engine. The fact he took great shots last night when he could barely walk is actually a good sign. Some guys would have been knocked out cold from those while fresh. Still impressed great hand speed and power.

[NazNaci1]

Fish Eyes bears more blame than most.

He saw Hrgovic as a bit of a gimme and figured Itauma would blast him out.

Cue the hype overdrive, 2nd youngest HW Champ in history, as good as anyone EVER at that age etc.....expected to hear it all.

You could tell he was shocked, telling the cameraman to f-off and putting his hand up to block him. He defo wasn't expecting that.

Itauma will come again and should pick up a belt but all this talk of the 2nd coming of 'Iron' Mike and Fish Eyes bursting at the seems to hype him has now come to an abrupt halt.

Congrats to Hrgovic. Won it in a way quite a few did not expect.

[gregregegg]

While I think fitness could improve I also think that exact Moses could have easily won a 12 round decision with some disapline and good corner work.

Conversely I think the fittest heavies would have gassed doing what Moses did last night. I don’t wanna hear about the guys in the 80s and 90s with chiseled abs and 20 rounds of explosive cardio… hate to break it to you, they were on gear…

The amount of wild reckless bombs he through in the last 5 mins of the fight is more than you should throw in a career…(as a favorite, non favorites should throw more hailmarys when down on the cards but when your up 7-0 rounds you don’t need to do that )…

It’s fun. And you can chose to be Johnny fisher delux… and Moses is so good he would likely still become world champ at some point, but if he wants to dominate the next 15 years he just needs some self control.

[hhaehre]

Conversely I think the fittest heavies would have gassed doing what Moses did last night. I don’t wanna hear about the guys in the 80s and 90s with chiseled abs and 20 rounds of explosive cardio… hate to break it to you, they were on gear…

Sure and that helped, but I'll guarantee you that they also trained a hell of a lot harder than Moses. I get that he expends a lot of energy throwing almost all of his punches hard, but he was gassed after 3 rounds. He just wasn't nearly as fit as he should have been.

[golden_labrador]

While I think fitness could improve I also think that exact Moses could have easily won a 12 round decision with some disapline and good corner work.

Conversely I think the fittest heavies would have gassed doing what Moses did last night. I don’t wanna hear about the guys in the 80s and 90s with chiseled abs and 20 rounds of explosive cardio… hate to break it to you, they were on gear…

The amount of wild reckless bombs he through in the last 5 mins of the fight is more than you should throw in a career…(as a favorite, non favorites should throw more hailmarys when down on the cards but when your up 7-0 rounds you don’t need to do that )…

It’s fun. And you can chose to be Johnny fisher delux… and Moses is so good he would likely still become world champ at some point, but if he wants to dominate the next 15 years he just needs some self control.

agreed 100%

[Taansend]

Watching a nice David Haye interview & he's comparing what happened to Itauma with his Thompson fight - which is what a few of us said could happen prior to this bout.

But Haye said that Hrgovic came through the hard way without backing or a promoter etc but I remember when Filip turned pro he was with Sauerland then Match room for a lot of his early bouts.

There was a fair bit of fanfare from both of them, if I remember.

[gilgamesh]

Watching a nice David Haye interview & he's comparing what happened to Itauma with his Thompson fight - which is what a few of us said could happen prior to this bout.

But Haye said that Hrgovic came through the hard way without backing or a promoter etc but I remember when Filip turned pro he was with Sauerland then Match room for a lot of his early bouts.

There was a fair bit of fanfare from both of them, if I remember.

No matter how you slice it, getting the crap beat out of you for several rounds, and having the guy wear himself out by punching you until he's exhausted isn't an easy way to win. So Hrgovic definitely got it the hard way that's for sure

[TheLeprechaun]

Watching a nice David Haye interview & he's comparing what happened to Itauma with his Thompson fight - which is what a few of us said could happen prior to this bout.

But Haye said that Hrgovic came through the hard way without backing or a promoter etc but I remember when Filip turned pro he was with Sauerland then Match room for a lot of his early bouts.

There was a fair bit of fanfare from both of them, if I remember.

No matter how you slice it, getting the crap beat out of you for several rounds, and having the guy wear himself out by punching you until he's exhausted isn't an easy way to win. So Hrgovic definitely got it the hard way that's for sure

Itauma made him look like a journeyman for most of the fight. That fight has to have taken a lot out of Hrgovic. His chin is going to go at some point. Look at Joyce...

The last thing you want is Itauma imitating Haye. Haye was a rotten scoundrel who made a living out of swindling the public. Itauma showed more heart in that fight than Haye did in his career. Absolutely pathetic showing against Wlad when he turned up for the money and had his little toe excuse ready for the post fight interviews.

[MasterG]

Does anyone think it would have been an easier nights work for Moses if his opponent was Anthony Joshua or Fury?

[golden_labrador]

Does anyone think it would have been an easier nights work for Moses if his opponent was Anthony Joshua or Fury?

would either have ever been able to stave off Hrg?

[golden_labrador]

Watching a nice David Haye interview & he's comparing what happened to Itauma with his Thompson fight - which is what a few of us said could happen prior to this bout.

But Haye said that Hrgovic came through the hard way without backing or a promoter etc but I remember when Filip turned pro he was with Sauerland then Match room for a lot of his early bouts.

There was a fair bit of fanfare from both of them, if I remember.

No matter how you slice it, getting the crap beat out of you for several rounds, and having the guy wear himself out by punching you until he's exhausted isn't an easy way to win. So Hrgovic definitely got it the hard way that's for sure

That fight has to have taken a lot out of Hrgovic. His chin is going to go at some point. Look at Joyce...

was thinking this. he's been Zhanged, Dubois-ed and Itauma'ed. can't be doing his noggin any good