Moses Itauma, 21, will have a chance to make history to become the second-youngest Heavyweight champion ever — with Mike Tyson being age 20 when he won the title back in 1986 — should he defeat Filip Hrgovic for IBF’s vacant title when the two collide on Aug. 29, 2026, in London, England.
The bout was already scheduled to take place, but it wasn’t only until recently that IBF concluded that the fight would be for the vacant title left behind by Oleksandr Usyk. Initially, IBF ordered Itauma versus
Frank Sanchez for the vacant title later this year (details here); however, since Itauma already had his fight booked against Hrgovic the commission opted to pivot.
Itauma did have the option to cancel his fight against Hrgovic and take the title fight against Sanchez, but Queensberry’s Frank Warren came to a deal with Sanchez to hold out for the winner later this year (or early 2027).
“We paid [Sanchez] some money,” Warren told BBC. “We said whoever wins the fight, you’re not losing out, and you’ll get the opportunity to fight for the title against the winner.”
According to Yahoo!, the winner of Itauma vs. Hrgovic must face Sanchez within six months of the conclusion of their showdown.
Itauma is one of the most dangerous fighters in boxing at his young age, racking up impressive undefeated record (14-0) with 12 knockouts (see here and here). The British brawler retained his WBA International and WBO Inter-Continental Heavyweight titles by stopping Jermaine Franklin via fifth round technical knockout earlier this year (watch highlights). His current knockout win streak is at 10 with six of them coming in the first round.
Very Tyson-esque.
As for Hrgovic, he is coming in with a record of 20-1 with 15 knockouts. The lone blemish on his career is a technical knockout loss to current WBO Heavyweight champion, Daniel Dubois. Interestingly enough, that fight was also for IBF’s vacant title back in 2024.
