Report By James Lupton
Moses Itauma aims to be one of the youngest heavyweight world champions in history as he steps into the ring against the world class Filip Hrgovic who himself looks to make history by becoming Croatia’s first ever heavyweight champion of the world. Tensions boiled over at the weigh in as the Croatian found himself flung from the stage after Itauma shoved his foe in the back before receiving a slap across his left cheek in retaliation. The next time they face each other will be when the pair go to war. 21 years old vs 34 years old. 14-0 vs 20-1. There can only be one victor. Is Itauma the real deal or will the hype train get derailed? As the o2 Arena fills with anticipation the two heavyweights make their way to the ring to perform in their colosseum for the evening. ‘El Animal’ made his way to the ring first before the sold out crowd went wild for Moses Itauma. The referee gives his instructions and all that’s left to do is fight for soon a champion will be crowned.
Ding, ding, round one. It took just 20 seconds for the unfazed Itauma to land a big overhand right on the chin of Hrgovic. 2 minutes and 40 seconds of pure domination followed as the Croatian had a round to forget.
Inside half a minute of the second round Hrgovic received a count after his glove touched the canvas after an Itauma attack. The look on the face of the Croatian is one of confusion, he simply has no idea what Itauma is throwing, when, or where the shots will land. Itauma is displaying speed and timing of excellence.
A better round for Hrgovic in the third as Itauma seemed to take his foot off the gas. Valuable learning for Itauma, how does he deal with a man who is showing a granite chin?
Bad intentions being thrown in every shot from Itauma’s gloves as he lacerated the face of his opponent. Yet another cut for Hrgovic who will be used to the feeling of his own blood running down his face by now.
Speed kills and Itauma has it in abundance, unfortunately for Hrgovic he also has the boxing IQ and power to go with his speed. Itauma ends round five with an uppercut which brought woo’s from the crowd like it was filled with 20,000 Ric Flairs.
Itauma controlled the pace of the fight. When he slows it down Hrgovic, rather than take advantage, seems to be grateful for a pause in the onslaught. Round six ended in a shootout. Itauma showed he has a solid chin on him to go with all his other elite attributes.
Round seven, unknown territory for Itauma who has never gone past six rounds before this. Unrelentless punishment was served up to Hrgovic. Itauma looked like a champion already. It seemed inevitable.
Valuable learning round for Itauma as he went for the kill and emptied his tank allowing Hrgovic to pick him off for the last 15 seconds of round eight.
A rejuvenated Hrgovic was straight on the front foot, a tired Itauma was what he had been waiting for and Itauma, learning on the job, showed signs of weakness before Hrgovic, who was losing every round, piled on the pressure forcing a stoppage as the referee jumped in as the towel also flew in from the Itauma corner. This was the gameplan for Hrgovic and it worked. He relied heavily on his iron chin and expected, or hoped, Itauma’s untested gas tank would be his downfall. A huge shock in the boxing world. For Itauma he will absolutely come again but today it was too much too soon.
