{"id":738836,"date":"2026-08-15T12:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T12:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/738836\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T12:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T12:56:12","slug":"filip-hrgovic-admits-there-is-one-thing-he-fears-about-facing-moses-itauma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/738836\/","title":{"rendered":"Filip Hrgovic admits there is one thing he fears about facing Moses Itauma"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Filip Hrgovic has revealed one area of weakness that could make him vulnerable to a stoppage defeat when he faces Moses Itauma.<\/p>\n<p>The two heavyweights will square off for the vacant IBF title on August 29, headlining a Queensberry Promotions pay-per-view show at London\u2019s O2 Arena.<\/p>\n<p>Initially, they had agreed to a non-title fight, only for both combatants to be given an additional incentive after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/boxing\/articles\/c6210pk8klro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Oleksandr Usyk vacated his three major belts<\/a> in June.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/who-itauma-must-face-if-he-beats-hrgovic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The winner must then face mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez<\/a>, who agreed to a step-aside fee following his manager\u2019s negotiations with Queensberry promoter Frank Warren.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of the task at hand, though, it must be said that Itauma is approaching his toughest assignment thus far, with Hrgovic having previously fought for the IBF title in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Back then, the Croatian had arguably built a slight lead against Daniel Dubois, only for the ringside doctor to prompt an eighth-round stoppage after inspecting the damage around his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>It is worth noting, too, that these cuts were reopened \u2013 albeit to varying degrees of severity \u2013 in Hrgovic\u2019s subsequent victories over Joe Joyce, David Adeleye and Dave Allen.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/5UhXmTcmTFs?si=PHDPQ50TMhzwBVY3\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">DAZN<\/a>, the 34-year-old admitted that this is of genuine concern as he gears up to face the sharp-shooting Itauma.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the only thing I\u2019m afraid of. I can\u2019t do anything about that. In my last three or four fights, that cut was opening, so it\u2019s obviously a sensitive part of skin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know when [Itauma] hits me, I\u2019m going to continue coming. But, for the cut \u2013 if it\u2019s open \u2013 I cannot close it with the power of my will. The [ringside] doctor is going to decide [whether the fight continues].<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBesides that, I\u2019m not afraid of his power or his speed or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If Itauma proves successful against Hrgovic, perhaps via a stoppage on cuts, then he will become the youngest heavyweight champion since Mike Tyson defeated Trevor Berbick in 1986.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Filip Hrgovic has revealed one area of weakness that could make him vulnerable to a stoppage defeat when&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-738836","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\/738836","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=738836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}