Despite only being 21-year-old, Moses Itauma has been a fast-rising prospect who has been frustrated with his inability to secure many of the kind of fights he wants. In that sense, things are certainly trending in the right direction as he’s officially had his fight with Filip Hrgovic upgraded to a vacant IBF heavyweight title fight on August 29.
The fight will take place at London’s O2 Arena per ESPN with Queensberry promoter Frank Warren specifying that Frank Sanchez was paid to step aside as the
mandatory challenger, with a promise to fight the winner of Itauma vs Hrgovic.
Itauma (14-0, 12 KOs) isn’t much for words, but his status will speak for itself as he’s provided the opportunity to become one of the youngest heavyweight champions in boxing history, but he’ll have to get through a sturdy and motivated Hrgovic (20-1, 15 KOs), who says he isn’t in awe of Itauma’s reptuation.
“I never see him in trouble. I never see him get punched or dropped,” Hrgovic said of Itauma. “He’s definitely got skills and speed but to be a great fighter you must have heart, will, chin, endurance and we didn’t see that yet. Maybe he’s got all of that, but maybe not. I think I will test that. I will test is he a real deal or not.”
Hrgovic is most recently coming off a stoppage win over Dave Allen this past May while Itauma scored his own stoppage win to beat Jermaine Franklin in late March.
