{"id":873554,"date":"2026-08-30T06:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T06:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/873554\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T06:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T06:54:13","slug":"hrgovic-wins-ibf-world-heavyweight-boxing-title-as-itauma-hospitalised-boxing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/873554\/","title":{"rendered":"Hrgovic wins IBF world heavyweight boxing title as Itauma hospitalised | Boxing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filip Hrgovic is the first Croatian to become a world heavyweight boxing champion after beating Briton Moses Itauma.<\/p>\n

Published On 30 Aug 202630 Aug 2026<\/p>\n

Filip Hrgovic of Croatia beat Britain\u2019s Moses Itauma via a ninth-round stoppage to win the vacant International Boxing Federation (IBF) world heavyweight title in a thrilling contest in London.<\/p>\n

Itauma, bidding to become the second-youngest heavyweight world champion after Mike Tyson, was on top during the fight\u2019s early stages but had to be carried from the ring on a stretcher and taken to hospital from the O2 Arena on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Facing the toughest test of his 15-fight professional career against an experienced Olympic medal winner, the 21-year-old Itauma tired against an opponent with a granite chin.<\/p>\n

Itauma\u2019s trainer Ben Davison threw in the towel in the ninth round, but by that time referee Howard Foster had stopped the fight in Hrgovic\u2019s favour as the Croat won the world heavyweight title vacated by Ukrainian boxing great Oleksandr Usyk.<\/p>\n

It was Itauma\u2019s first time beyond the sixth round and at one point in the ninth he looked as if he was about to topple.<\/p>\n

\"BoxingHrgovic in action against Itauma [Peter Cziborra\/Action Images via Reuters]<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know from where I got energy in that [ninth] round,\u201d said the 34-year-old Hrgovic, almost as spent physically as his beaten opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really not my strength. It was Holy Spirit. He gave me strength in this camp to endure everything, to have [the] best camp of my life, he put me in touch with this great coach Abel Sanchez.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hrgovic saluted the courageous Itauma by adding: \u201cI\u2019m the present, and he\u2019s definitely [the] future. He\u2019s an amazing fighter. He\u2019s one of a kind. He\u2019s the best I\u2019ve been in a ring with, but he needed more experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt the pace of the fight. I knew I was losing rounds, but I knew that I had that pace in my favour. He was gassing out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Itauma landed with several straight left hands early on and Hrgovic was given a standing eight count in the second after being caught with a right hook.<\/p>\n

Itauma\u2019s uppercut at the end of the fifth round had home fans in a partisan crowd standing in appreciation.<\/p>\n

But come the eighth, both boxers appeared out on their feet, with Hrgovic somehow still standing despite several punishing blows.<\/p>\n

Hrgovic was landing powerful shots of his own and, with a dazed Itauma lurching around the ring, Foster called a halt in the ninth round.<\/p>\n

Promoter Frank Warren said after the bout that Hrgovic is set to next fight Cuban Frank Sanchez, but the Croatian himself said he instead wants to take on WBO champion Daniel Dubois and then WBC title holder Agit Kabayel \u2014 both of whom were ringside at the O2 Arena.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want unification. Frank Sanchez will wait,\u201d Hrgovic said.<\/p>\n

Hrgovic\u2019s only loss came to Dubois in 2024. Hrgovic was bleeding from deep cuts above his eyes that time when the ringside doctor recommended the fight be stopped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Filip Hrgovic is the first Croatian to become a world heavyweight boxing champion after beating Briton Moses Itauma.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,28153,2057,588,85,3586],"class_list":["post-873554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-croatia","tag-europe","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}