{"id":874590,"date":"2026-08-31T04:10:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T04:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/874590\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T04:10:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T04:10:21","slug":"amazing-itauma-urged-not-to-give-up-by-hrgovic-after-stunning-stoppage-boxing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/874590\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Amazing\u2019 Itauma urged not to give up by Hrgovic after stunning stoppage | Boxing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moses Itauma has been urged \u201cnot to give up\u201d by Filip Hrgovic, the new IBF world heavyweight champion, who stopped the 21-year-old Briton with a dramatic and stunning turnaround<\/a> in their title fight late on Saturday night at London\u2019s O2 Arena.<\/p>\n

Itauma was taken to hospital in a precautionary measure after the fight and Frank Warren, his promoter, confirmed to the Guardian on Sunday morning that his young heavyweight was still under medical observation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s still in hospital, still under observation,\u201d Warren said of Itauma. \u201cI think they\u2019ll let him out today. They\u2019re just doing the usual tests because he didn\u2019t get there until late. So he got some sleep and they\u2019re just doing what they normally do. He should be okay. I\u2019ve messaged him a couple of times. He\u2019s messaged back. We\u2019ll have a call later today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hrgovic said he had lost the first eight rounds to the \u201camazing\u201d Itauma, whom he also described as \u201cthe best guy in the division, the most talented guy in the division\u201d, but that his own hard-bitten experience after nine years as a professional fighter was the telling difference.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old Croat also stressed that Itauma made some basic mistakes in the pacing of the fight and, for all his speed and skill, ended up brawling like an amateur in the last two tumultuous rounds of a gripping battle. \u201cMy advice is to, of course, not give up,\u201d Hrgovic said of Itauma, \u201cnot lose his confidence, to get a few easy fights, easy wins, to build again, and to learn from these mistakes. You can\u2019t box like an amateur. It\u2019s a 12-round fight, man. You need to pace yourself. You need to, in every moment, be ready and, you know, it\u2019s a marathon. It\u2019s not a sprint.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if it had always been his plan to take the bout into the later rounds, Hrgovic shook his head. \u201cNo, I thought I\u2019m gonna connect more from the beginning, but I couldn\u2019t match his speed. He\u2019s very fast. I didn\u2019t see his punches coming. I didn\u2019t see his counters coming. I thought it was gonna be easier but I just couldn\u2019t land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hrgovic pointed to the inexperience of Itauma which cost him at such a crucial period after he had built a wide lead on the scorecards. \u201cHe\u2019s just a kid. He could have boxed [at range] for the last few rounds. Use his legs, box. He was winning all the rounds. But he went toe-to-toe with me in round [nine]. It was a stupid move from him. Very stupid. But it\u2019s inexperience. He\u2019s an amazing fighter, but he\u2019s still young.\u201d<\/p>\n

Itauma left the ring on a stretcher, after being given oxygen. At the post-fight press conference Warren said: \u201cIt\u2019s precautionary that he\u2019s gone to the hospital. That\u2019s what we always do, because the most important thing is the boxer\u2019s health.\u201d<\/p>\n

The promoter added: \u201cHe\u2019s done something to his leg as well and he was quite tired. It was a high-paced, fast fight for both guys.\u201d Warren, who also promotes Hrgovic, praised the Croat as a \u201cclassy guy, a classy champ. He\u2019s been really honest about how hard the fight was for him too.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The weary but happy new champion spoke of how, over the years, \u201cGod tested me many times, and I endure everything. I stay strong, and he now gave me the best possible gift to win a world title against the best guy in the division, the most talented guy in the division. And there is no better way for me to become a world champion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Filip Hrgovic poses for a photo with his IBF world heavyweight belt. Photograph: Peter Cziborra\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n

He offered one more note of advice for his vanquished young rival. \u201cHe\u2019s really fast but I didn\u2019t feel his power. He needs to work on his power to sit more on his punches. When he knocked me down [in the second round] I wasn\u2019t hurt. I just didn\u2019t see the punches coming. But he needs to pace himself. He needs to adjust a little bit to professional boxing. He\u2019s definitely an amazing talent, and I believe he\u2019ll be world champion for sure. But he needs more time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Moses Itauma has been urged \u201cnot to give up\u201d by Filip Hrgovic, the new IBF world heavyweight champion,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-874590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874590","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=874590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}