Hrgovic stops Itauma in ninth to claim vacant IBF heavyweight title at O2 Arena
Filip Hrgovic stopped Moses Itauma in the ninth round at London's O2 Arena to claim the vacant IBF heavyweight title on 30 August 2026. Itauma, who had boxed just 31 rounds as a professional before the fight, started quickly but faded as the contest progressed.
Itauma entered the bout with a perfect professional record of 14 wins and had been widely tipped as a leading British heavyweight prospect, while Hrgovic was regarded as his sternest test. Aged 21, Itauma was attempting to become the second-youngest heavyweight world champion of all-time and Britain's second-youngest world champion. Hype around Itauma had built since his professional debut in January 2023, won in 23 seconds, and his rise featured a run of early stoppages with 12 of his previous 14 bouts finished inside six rounds and eight of his 12 knockout wins coming in the first round.
Itauma made a fast start and controlled large parts of the contest, but he grew visibly fatigued as the fight went beyond the sixth round. Hrgovic was outpunched in every round until the decisive ninth when he seized his moment to become Croatia's first heavyweight world champion.
Itauma had told BBC Sport in the weeks before his heavyweight title fight that he had never even sparred 12 rounds, and that lack of experience showed; trainer Ben Davison nearly threw in the towel early in the ninth before changing his mind, but the towel was thrown in moments later and referee Howard Foster stepped in with Itauma unable to stand without the ropes to aid him.
BBC Radio 5 Live's coverage of the night ended with Richie Woodhall, Ronald McIntosh and Steve Bunce offering up one word each to describe the night. "Incredible," former super-middleweight world champion Woodhall said. "Unbelievable," added commentator McIntosh, while Bunce signed off with "unforgettable".
"Unbelievable talent and skills," four-weight world champion Stevenson wrote on X. "He's young and will be a champion one day if he learns from that. He throws every punch at 100mph and that can be a gift and a curse, Especially in the heavyweights division!" Fellow Briton Tony Bellew posted on X: "Moses Itauma will be world champion! He will learn so much from tonight," Bellew posted on X. "The biggest thing I'll take from tonight is just how brave and tough Moses was, we knew Filip was super tough. Tonight we learned Moses is also tough, once he learns to pace a 12-round bout, he's gonna rule for a while! Filip Hrgovic's chin needs to studied." Chris Eubank Jr wrote on X: "Not sure what happened tonight. Moses was fighting well and then gassed out it seems… at his young age this should simply not be happening. Time to rethink his training camp moving forward I think."
Despite coming up short against 34-year-old Hrgovic, he is still being tipped to reach the pinnacle of boxing's glamour division.
