LONDON — Filip Hrgovic believes Moses Itauma may never lose again if he can overcome the "humiliation" of his IBF heavyweight title defeat, after the Croatian stunned the previously strong favourite with a ninth-round stoppage at the O2 Arena in August. The 21-year-old southpaw has lost only one of his 15 professional fights, with Hrgovic, 34, handing him that first defeat.
The early signs pointed to an Itauma victory. Hrgovic touched the canvas in the second round and conceded he was outboxed early on. "He's really good. He's special. Very fast, very talented and he countered whatever I tried with his speed and timing," Hrgovic said. "I never was in the ring before with such a talented kid, with such a fast guy. You have some fast guys but they're small heavyweights. You can handle them with your power but this kid is fast and big. He's got great IQ and great talent."
"I'm still kind of angry because he outboxed me. In my whole career, in 20 years of boxing, I was never outboxed in any sparring or any fight," Hrgovic added. He took advantage as Itauma tired late, closing the fight in the ninth to secure the upset and keep his own ambition to unify the division alive.
"It was big shock for him, big humiliation, so maybe it's end of his career if he's not mentally tough. If he recovers from this loss, mentally, it will be hard for anyone to ever beat him again," Hrgovic said. "A lot of people after that kind of loss, they never come back. So, it will be a hard journey for him to come back. You have to go through a ruthless, hard training camp. You need to go through hell to be mentally ready for this. I think he was physically ready but it's the mental part."