Moses Itauma’s hopes of becoming the second-youngest world heavyweight champion in history lay in ruins after the extraordinarily tough and resilient Filip Hrgovic stopped him in the ninth round of their IBF title fight. Yet, until the latter stages of round eight, the sheer speed and dextrous power of the Briton had dominated the contest, with the Croat being dropped in the second and caught again and again by jolting combinations.
The fight changed course when Itauma’s stamina suddenly dipped and he began to weave in woozy fatigue as Hrgovic fought back with granite-like determination. Itauma could not withstand the dark storm rolling over him in the ninth and he sank back against the ropes as Hrgovic opened up with renewed conviction. Just as the referee stepped in to stop the fight, Ben Davison, Itauma’s trainer, also sent a white towel sailing sadly over the listing ropes to save his man from a knockout.
The shocking twist was too much for the 21-year-old and he left the ring on a stretcher, apparently having injured his knee. But the damage was done by the remarkable fightback from his opponent, who made his own significant slice of boxing history. The admirable Hrgovic is the first world heavyweight champion from Croatia – a country that has no real boxing heritage.
The shock result was also a sobering reminder that, for all Itauma’s obvious skill, a heavyweight tyro is always vulnerable to a world-class opponent who simply refuses to surrender. Itauma’s inexperience also cost him badly for, rather than boxing with more care and staying out of trouble from the eighth round onwards, he allowed himself to be caught up in a slugfest.
Before the late dramatics, Itauma walked with calm solemnity to the ring, seemingly unmoved by the fact that the crammed and partisan crowd had begun singing his name in raucous harmony even before he left his dressing room.
Fighting out of a southpaw stance, Itauma landed the first meaningful punch, a sweeping right hand. Moving with menacing intent Itauma clipped Hrgovic with fast and cuffing blows. His speed was striking as he backed up the bigger man with a shuddering right cross which nailed and shook up Hrgovic.
Itauma missed with a scything left early in the second but Hrgovic walked almost immediately on to a jolting short right hook which dropped him to the canvas for a count of eight. Hrgovic fought back near the end of the round only for Itauma to produce another blistering combination.
A sharp left snapped back Hrgovic’s head at the start of the third, as sweat glistened on the faces and torsos of both men. Itauma switched to the body, sinking a cruel blow to Hrgovic’s gut, but the Croat refused to wilt. His vociferous supporters at ringside began screaming their support as he had a measure of success for the first time in the fight to prove that his ambition remained undimmed.
Itauma began to grimace occasionally as the pace of the fight began to leave its mark. A beautiful short left snaked through Hrgovic’s defence in the fifth but the older man marched forward with stoic determination. Itauma was starting to breathe heavily and he had to use a glove to slip his black gum shield back into his mouth. It was the first real sign of distress in Itauma’s previously impassive expression. But at the bell a spiteful uppercut rocked back Hrgovic’s head on the plinth of his massive neck.
The cut about Hrgovic’s right eye began to seep with a tickle of blood. But just before the bell Hrgovic landed some heavy shots. Itauma absorbed them and fired back as the fight really caught fire.
Itauma had never boxed more than six rounds before and he entered uncharted territory in the seventh. But he again forced Hrgovic on to the back foot and landed some deft combinations.
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Hrgovic ate one meaty blow after another in the eighth round but was resolute as ever. Itauma looked desperately weary as Hrgovic, unbelievably, rallied again. He would soon overwhelm the exhausted youngster and finish a remarkable resurgence.
Throughout an intriguing fight week, the 34-year-old Hrgovic had tried to unsettle his complex rival by suggesting that becoming a world heavyweight champion at such a young age would be “bad for his soul”. Itauma, who is so suspicious of fame, engaged fully with those doubts about his readiness for sporting celebrity. It was almost as if the callow prodigy was uncertain, deep down, whether his world title shot had arrived too early.
Hrgovic was always going to provide an acid test of Itauma’s much lauded credentials. The experienced Croat had lost only one previous bout in his nine years as a professional. It had been expected that he would not match Itauma’s deft footwork, fast hands, clarity of thinking and the kind of power that is impressive because it arrives from such dizzying and unexpected angles.
But Itauma, instead, was rendered helpless by Hrgovic’s superior stamina and bludgeoning will and self-belief. “Let me tell you something,” Hrgovic said afterwards. “It was not me tonight. It was Jesus Christ in me. Holy Spirit. Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. It was not me. I was losing every round. I was outboxed. And I don’t know from where I got energy in that ninth round. And it was really not my strength. It was the Holy Spirit.”
He then turned his attention to his fallen opponent. “He’s an amazing fighter,” Hrgovic said of Itauma. “I want to thank him for accepting this fight, to give me a chance to become a new superstar in the heavyweight division. I’m the present and he’s definitely the future.”
Itauma is obviously more than young enough to come back from such crushing disappointment but it is Hrgovic who will celebrate victory in the weeks and months to come. The new world champion administered a chastening lesson in the harsh and unforgiving realities of heavyweight boxing.
