Moses Itauma’s Pre-Fight Admission Comes Back to Haunt Him After Hrgovic Loss

Moses Itauma comments came back to haunt him. Regarding the fact that he had never felt the need to test himself over twelve rounds have come to light again after the British heavyweight suffered his first professional defeat at the hands of Filip Hrgovic.

On Saturday at London’s O2 Arena, Hrgovic won the vacant IBF heavyweight title by stopping Itauma in the ninth round. Itauma had controlled the fight for a long time before becoming clearly tired in the later rounds and thus gave the experienced Croatian the advantage.

Moses Itauma Didn’t See The Need To Spar 12 Rounds

The outcome has once again brought to light Itauma’s statement made before the fight when he had been asked how often he had finished 12 tough rounds in training.

“If I’m being completely honest, I don’t know if I’ve done a 12-round spar.” he said, continuing: I might have but I wouldn’t recall.”

When asked if he wanted to carry out 12 rounds of sparring just to get the experience of the distance, the 21-year-old made it clear he wasn’t interested in testing his endurance.

“By no means,” Itauma said, continuing: “You should not stay in the ring longer than is necessary. If I knock Filip Hrgovic out in the first round or in the last one, I’ll still be paid the same amount.”

Itauma took part in his most important fight without having previously boxed more than six rounds as a professional; when facing Hrgovic he entered unfamiliar territory since he had not managed to achieve the early stoppage which had become a regular feature of his quick rise through the heavyweight division.

At first, there was no reason to worry.

Moses Itauma Dominated Most of The Fight

Itauma used his speed and varied combinations to take control of the early exchanges and knocked Hrgovic down in the second round; nevertheless, the Croatian didn’t appear hurt and kept up the pressure as the fight went on.

The signs of fatigue became more and more obvious. Although Itauma was breathing heavily by the middle rounds, he still landed combinations and by the time the final stages arrived seemed to be in a comfortable position.

Hrgovic would not leave the ring, taking in all of Itauma’s attacks before starting to achieve increasing success.

By the ninth day Itauma was exhausted and could barely stand on his feet and winced in pain.

Hrgovic advanced and fired off his punches as Itauma fought against the ropes, which caused the trainer, Ben Davison, to throw in the towel. Itauma then needed medical attention and was removed from the ring on a stretcher. Frank Warren stated that exhaustion and a leg injury were the reasons for his condition.

The loss brought an end to Itauma’s streak of professional victories and prevented him from becoming one of the youngest heavyweight champions in the history of boxing.

For Hrgovic, who is 34 years old, the win represented a dramatic come-back since he had been outboxed for a large part of the fight and it also made him the first heavyweight world champion from Croatia.

Itauma still has a long time ahead of him to recover since he is only 21, but the circumstances surrounding his first loss will mean that his conditioning and preparation for longer bouts are likely to be given much more attention when he comes back.