Filip Hrgovic declared he knew that Moses Itauma would ‘gas out’ after handing the Briton a shock defeat in their heavyweight world title fight.
Itauma had been the heavy favourite heading into the showdown at the O2 Arena and was bidding to become the second youngest heavyweight world champion in history after Mike Tyson.
The 21-year-old, who had won all 14 of his previous fights, looked on course for victory after knocking down Hrgovic in the second round and continued to control the fight.
Hrgovic, however, remained resilient and held off Itauma with the British star looking exhausted by the end of the eighth round.
The Croatian seized his chance in the ninth and pinned a struggling Itauma back, with the towel eventually thrown in to end the contest.
Hrgovic, who became Croatia’s first heavyweight world champion, insisted he knew early on in the fight that Itauma would tire and despite ‘losing every round’ would be able to take advantage of his rivals’ conditioning late on.
Filip Hrgovic has insisted he knew Moses Itauma would ‘gas out’ in their world title fight
Itauma controlled much of the fight but the contest was stopped in the ninth round after the visibly exhausted British fighter struggled against Hrgovic
‘You’re going to be sending Moses back to high school. Let me ask my young friend something. Is chin important? Is chin important?’ Hrgovic said.
‘He didn’t seem to think so, but I think he may have answered that question. Look, chin is important.
‘He’s an amazing fighter. 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. He’s an amazing fighter. He’s one of a kind. He’s the best I’ve been in the ring with, but he needs more experience.
‘From the first round, I saw him gassing out. He started fast. I knew he was going to gas out.
‘I knew when my chance came, I needed to push. That is what I did.’
Itauma, who left the ring on a stretcher and went to hospital for checks, has been backed to bounce back from the defeat.
‘Filip done amazing to ride through the storm! I’ll say this now! Moses Itauma will be world champion! He will learn so much from tonight,’ Bellew wrote on X.
Hrgovic insisted Itauma is still ‘the future’ with several stars backing Itauma to learn and bounce back from the first defeat of his career
‘The biggest thing I’ll take from tonight is just how brave and tough Moses was.
‘We knew Filip was super tough. Tonight we learned Moses is also tough, Once he learns to pace a 12 round bout he’s gonna rule for a while!
‘Filip Hrgovic’s chin needs to studied…’
Eubank Jr added: ‘Not sure what happened tonight. Moses was fighting well & then gassed out it seems… at his young age this should simply not be happening.
‘Time to rethink his training camp moving forward I think. Congratulations to Filip Hrgović becoming the new heavyweight champ.’
