{"id":757887,"date":"2026-06-24T10:46:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/757887\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:46:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:46:07","slug":"filip-hrgovic-had-just-one-demand-before-signing-moses-itauma-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/757887\/","title":{"rendered":"Filip Hrgovic had just one demand before signing Moses Itauma fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filip Hrgovic<\/a>\u2019s manager has responded to accusations that his client initially turned down a fight with Moses Itauma, explaining that contracts were signed once both sides were happy with the deal.<\/p>\n

The two heavyweights will square off at London\u2019s O2 Arena on August 29, with many expecting this to be Itauma\u2019s toughest assignment thus far.<\/p>\n

Having remained unbeaten as an amateur and professional, while winning most fights in dominant fashion, the 21-year-old is now deemed ready for an acid test at world level.<\/p>\n

His last outing came against Jermaine Franklin, a fringe contender, who he defeated with an emphatic fifth-round stoppage<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n

Now, though, Itauma is gearing up to face a genuine world-class contender in Hrgovic, who many consider to be a top 10 heavyweight.<\/p>\n

The Croatian\u2019s only professional defeat came in a competitive contest against Daniel Dubois, who ultimately secured an eighth-round finish in June 2024.<\/p>\n

This was due to the cuts Hrgovic suffered above both eyes, with \u2018El Animal\u2019 having subsequently experienced similar problems \u2013 albeit to a lesser degree \u2013 in his triumphs over Joe Joyce, David Adeleye and, most recently, Dave Allen.<\/p>\n

It is perhaps for this reason that Team Hrgovic were keen to push the date back, allowing for greater recovery, while manager Keith Connolly insists to Seconds Out<\/a> that there was never any desire to swerve Itauma.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a complete lie. We just wanted to change the date to a later date \u2013 they changed it from August 8 to August 29.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted it a little bit later \u2013 they couldn\u2019t [accommodate that request] so we ended up taking it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen did asking for a later date constitute turning down a fight? All the people that spun that narrative were wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hrgovic comes fresh off a third-round finish over Allen<\/a> in May, which further explains why he and his team were eager to fight Itauma at a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Filip Hrgovic\u2019s manager has responded to accusations that his client initially turned down a fight with Moses Itauma,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":757888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-757887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/757888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}