{"id":680418,"date":"2026-07-08T13:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T13:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/680418\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T13:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T13:19:09","slug":"johnny-nelson-predicts-moses-itauma-vs-filip-hrgovic-he-cant-fight-like-that-against-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/680418\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnny Nelson predicts Moses Itauma vs Filip Hrgovic: “He can’t fight like that against him”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Johnny Nelson believes Moses Itauma<\/a> vs Filip Hrgovic<\/a> is a \u201cgreat fight\u201d, but one where the Queensberry Promotions golden boy must prove his world-class capabilities.<\/p>\n

While having not yet crafted the resume of an elite champion, many believe that Itauma is destined to become the next long-reigning heavyweight king.<\/p>\n

More than likely, the No.1 spot will become vacant once Oleksandr Usyk, the reigning lineal champion, sails into the sunset after his next outing.<\/p>\n

In order for Itauma to reach a status of such significance, however, he must first come through his toughest assignment on paper.<\/p>\n

This will arrive in the form of a clash with Hrgovic on August 29, with the Olympic bronze medallist attempting to halt the Itauma hype train at London\u2019s O2 Arena<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old comes off a third-round finish over Dave Allen<\/a> in May, but has previously claimed more meaningful wins against the likes of Zhilei Zhang \u2013 albeit via a contentious decision \u2013 and David Adeleye.<\/p>\n

His only defeat, meanwhile, came against current WBO champion Daniel Dubois<\/a> in June 2024, when Hrgovic was stopped while wearing a mask of cuts in round eight.<\/p>\n

While speaking with talkSPORT<\/a>, though, former long-reigning cruiserweight champion Nelson said the Croatian\u2019s sporadic lack of focus could cost him against a sharpshooter like Itauma.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a great fight. If [Itauma\u2019s] as good as we think he is, he should get the job done. But it\u2019ll be a good learning fight for him.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Hrgovic\u2019s] performances have been consistent. He\u2019s a tough, consistent guy. At times, he loses interest mid-fight. You can\u2019t fight like that against somebody like Itauma.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why he\u2019s perfect for Moses. It\u2019s a safe one because [Itauma\u2019s] got loads of gears. It\u2019s the safest big risk out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Itauma\u2019s most impressive victory thus far came in March, when he scored a fifth-round stoppage over the typically durable Jermaine Franklin<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Johnny Nelson believes Moses Itauma vs Filip Hrgovic is a \u201cgreat fight\u201d, but one where the Queensberry Promotions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-680418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}