Moses Itauma vs Filip Hrgovic: Heavyweight Title Clash
Moses Itauma barely blinked.
Filip Hrgovic had just promised to “smash the kid” and “send him back to high school”, the latest volley in a week of trash talk ahead of their IBF world heavyweight title clash at the O2 Arena on Saturday night. The belt Oleksandr Usyk vacated now hangs between them, history dangling with it.
Itauma, 21 years old, 14-0 with 12 knockouts, could become the second-youngest heavyweight world champion in history. Hrgovic, 34, 20-1 with 15 stoppages, is the most dangerous opponent of his career by a distance. The build-up has been predictably hostile. The response from the young southpaw from Chatham has been anything but.
“Na, man. At the end of the day talk is cheap,” Itauma said, shrugging off the Croatian’s barbs. “He has just got schoolboy banter and that’s it. You’ve got to keep rolling.”
Hrgovic, an Olympic bronze medallist and long-touted contender, insists this is no mind game, just his truth.
“I am just telling you facts. I am not playing any games,” he fired back. “I just tell you what I think in the moment. Like I said, I am not so smart to play these mind games.
“I think he is a kid, he is not mature enough and I think I am the man. I am a much better age, much more experience and yeah, that is it. No mind games. God willing you know I will beat him, I’ll smash the kid on Saturday and send him back to high school.”
The words crackled, but Itauma refused to be drawn into a back-and-forth. That has been his way in the heavyweight ranks so far: cold eyes, hot hands.
“I want to first address that I am not trying to become the second youngest heavyweight champion of the world, I am trying to beat Filip Hrgovic,” he said, resetting the narrative in a single line.
That is the core of his week. Not legacy. Not lists. One man.
“Second of all, this fight is what I wanted. I asked Queensberry for so long. I think it is a style match-up I reckon I can thrive on, the pressure I can thrive on and it is just waiting to fight.
“Obviously the world title is an achievement and an accolade. And that is a plus one, but my sole focus is Hrgovic. If I ain’t going to beat Hrgovic, it doesn’t matter about the world title and it doesn’t matter about the noise or nothing. My job is to be victorious on fight night. I am ready to rock and roll.”
That “noise” has grown louder with every win, and it roared again when Prince Naseem Hamed weighed in this week. The Hall of Famer claimed Itauma is a “million times better” than Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury and can become the greatest of all time.
Most 21-year-olds would float on that kind of praise. Itauma tried to stamp it down.
“Obviously it’s good but when I hear things like that, I kind of have to put it to the back of my mind,” he said. “I have such a long way to go in the sport of boxing, but of course I appreciate it from an all-time great like Prince Naseem Hamed.”
The contrast is striking. On one side, Hrgovic leaning on years, miles and scars, convinced that maturity and experience will tell. On the other, a young contender who refuses to be seduced by history or rattled by insults.
What he is not shy about is the ending he has in mind.
“The perfect performance? It would be go a couple of rounds and finish the job,” Itauma said. “Same script. Different story.”
On Saturday night at the O2, we find out whose version gets written into the record books.
