{"id":903075,"date":"2026-09-23T23:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T23:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/903075\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T23:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T23:48:18","slug":"i-had-a-headache-for-days-hrgovic-reveals-brutal-toll-of-itauma-world-title-fight-boxing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/903075\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I had a headache for days\u2019: Hrgovic reveals brutal toll of Itauma world title fight | Boxing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filip Hrgovic, the new IBF world heavyweight champion, has offered a candid insight into the ordeal he endured before beating Moses Itauma<\/a> in a shock stoppage victory last month, revealing he absorbed so many heavy punches in the first eight rounds that he felt headaches for a number of days afterwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt fucked up,\u201d said the 34-year-old Croat. \u201cI received a lot of shots and I was bruised. I had a bit of a headache for a few days. On the Wednesday after the fight I was back in the gym, working out already, but for a few days I felt really tired and bruised, with some headaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hrgovic, who aims to unify the heavyweight division, said there was a chance he would face Rico Verhoeven, the Dutch fighter<\/a> who used to be a world kickboxing champion, on the undercard to the much-delayed bout between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury that is expected to finally take place in Cardiff on 11 December.<\/p>\n

But revisiting the aftermath of the brutal Itauma bout which changed his life, Hrgovic said: \u201cI didn\u2019t celebrate. I just went home to rest. It was such a hard fight I didn\u2019t even do my tradition after I win, when I go to McDonald\u2019s. I didn\u2019t have the strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hrgovic believes Itauma is so skilful that, if he learns from his painful defeat, the 21-year-old British prodigy can become unbeatable: \u201cHe\u2019s really good. He\u2019s special. Very fast, very talented and he countered whatever I tried with his speed and timing. I never was in the ring before with such a talented kid, with such a fast guy. You have some fast guys but they\u2019re small heavyweights. You can handle them with your power but this kid is fast and big. He\u2019s got great IQ and great talent. If he recovers from this loss, mentally, it will be hard for anyone to ever beat him again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Filip Hrgovic said \u2018it will be hard for anyone to ever beat him [Moses Itauma] again\u2019 if he recovers from his first defeat. Photograph: Peter Cziborra\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Itauma is a complex character and Hrgovic suggested that doubts remain about his mentality. \u201cWe\u2019ll see. It was a big shock for him, a big humiliation, so maybe it\u2019s the end of his career if he\u2019s not mentally tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people, after that kind of loss, never come back. It will be a hard journey for him to come back but if he recovers and he does not lose his confidence then, with this experience, I think no one will ever beat him again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since his shattering defeat, attention has focused on a comment Itauma made before the fight which implied that he has never sparred for 12 successive rounds. Hrgovic said: \u201cIt\u2019s not about physical preparation. It\u2019s about experience and mentality. If we go for a run now, or we\u2019re in the gym together, he\u2019s in tremendous shape. He will beat me in every exercise, running, hitting the heavy bag. I think he was physically ready but it\u2019s the mental part. It\u2019s experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hrgovic, however, compared his own preparation with the less hard-edged approach of Itauma. \u201cYou have to go through a ruthless, hard training camp. You need to go through hell to be mentally ready for this shit. Old school is the best school. I told Itauma this before the fight. He\u2019s drinking water, hugging trees in the morning, saying hello to the sun. He does a lot of this bullshit. He\u2019s surrounded by 10,000 yes-men, nutritionists and a coach for sleeping. You can\u2019t get ready for a war this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

An exhausted Itauma ran out of energy, after setting a blistering pace, and he was overwhelmed in the ninth round. But the new champion said: \u201cI\u2019m still kind of angry because he outboxed me. In my whole career, in 20 years of boxing, I was never outboxed in any sparring or any fight. I was always competitive. But this kid outboxed me. On that night, I think he will beat anyone apart from myself. But that night I refused to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hrgovic is relishing his rise to world champion: \u201cIf I knew it would be so good I would have won the championship before. It\u2019s amazing to be world champion. I want to unify the division and stay here as long as possible. I feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Filip Hrgovic, the new IBF world heavyweight champion, has offered a candid insight into the ordeal he endured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-903075","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\/903075","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=903075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}