Following longtime World Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk’s victory over Rico Verhoeven in May of this year, he chose to relinquish the various versions of world titles he held as he appears to be nearing retirement after one more fight against a yet unnamed opponent. This has led to a change and shuffling in the Heavyweight division. Next among the bouts to occur in an attempt to fill vacancies in the division will come on Saturday, August 29th where the vacant International Boxing Federation World Heavyweight championship will be on the line when undefeated hot rising contender Moses Itauma and top contender Filip Hrgovic will meet at the O2 Arena in London, England. A twelve round bout that will determine the next world champion in the division that can be seen worldwide on DAZN Pay-Per-View or included as part of a DAZN Ultimate subscription.
This encounter was already made prior to the decision by Usyk to relinquish his titles before facing a yet unnamed opponent before retirement, and was to be another test for the hot rising Itauma towards eventually challenging for a world title. In a sense, the politics that be in the sport, along with the decision of the previous unified world champion of the division has opened several opportunities for contenders who were in the pipeline to challenge Usyk to fight for world titles or be named champion if they were in mandatory challenger positions. Among those fighters are Moses Itauma and Filip Hrgovic. While Usyk’s decision has accelerated an opportunity for Itauma that seemed as though it might have been nearing, perhaps in 2027, it does not make the test that he is likely to get from the more experienced Hrgovic.
Much like Itauma, who will enter the fight unbeaten in fourteen professional fights with twelve of those wins coming via knockout, Filip Hrgovic began his career in a similar way, scoring several quick knockouts against opposition that ranged from overmatched to fairly experienced. As his level of competition increased, however, Hrgovic saw his momentum stall and he has suffered a setback along the way. That setback, which came to future two-time World Heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois, the current holder of the WBO world championship in the division, did not hurt Hrgovic’s standing as a top contender as he was stopped due to a severe cut in eight rounds. Entering this fight with a record of 20-1, with 15 Knockouts, Hrgovic has rebounded to win his last three fights since that bout against Dubois in June 2024.
Stylistically, this fight could be a short, but explosive encounter. This is due to both fighters having come forward pressure styles and each being more than willing to engage with their opponents. While this makes for an exciting contest for the viewer, this could be the test that some have been looking for, for Itauma at this stage in his career. It is important to keep in mind that as devastating as Itauma has been in registering a career knockout percentage of nearly 86%, including former world title challenger Dillian Whyte and top contender Jermaine Franklin among his victims, he has been pushed rather quickly up the ladder of contention and it can at times be easy to overlook that he has only had fourteen professional fights and has yet to be put in a situation where he has had to take a significant punch, and as such, he has not been able to show that he is able to withstand punching power from an opponent and can recover from being stunned, hurt, or even knocked down.
Although this can not at this moment be viewed as a potential red flag for Itauma because it concerns questions of what happens if he is put in those type of situations because the answers are unknown at this point, it is a scenario that many fighters who are labeled “Knockout Artists” as Itauma has been. Whether or not the answers to those questions come in this fight remains to be seen. For his part Filip Hrgovic can say that his one loss came as a result of a cut and he was able to withstand what Daniel Dubois, another fighter noted for his punching power, was able to dish out. Hrgovic has also never been knocked down and does have a two inch height and three inch reach advantage over Itauma. What will also be interesting is to see if Hrgovic can withstand punches from Itauma that have dropped and knocked out previous opponents, how the twenty-one year old Itauma will respond.There will eventually come a point where no matter what Itauma is able to land, an opponent will be able to withstand it and continue fighting. Whether that comes in this fight is obviously yet to be determined.
As has been the case with bouts that have been held involving the WBA and WBO recently where previous mandatory challengers, who were named champion defended their portions of the World Heavyweight championship and in the case of the WBO, led to Daniel Dubois becoming a two-time world champion, the Heavyweight division will remain in a period that we can call approaching transition due to Usyk having yet to hang up his gloves after an illustrious career. As such, we will see whether Itauma or Hrgovic can make a convincing argument as potentially the division’s next potential central figure by becoming a world champion.
“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”
Itauma vs. Hrgovic takes place on Saturday, August 29th at the 02 Arena in London, England. The fight as well as its full undercard can be seen on digital subscription sports streaming network DAZN either as a standalone pay-per-view purchase for $59.99 or included as part of a DAZN Ultimate subscription for $44.99 per month. The card will begin at 11AM ET/8PM PT with preliminary bouts, which will be followed by the main card beginning at 2PM ET/11AM PT.
(*North American Times and Pricing Only* *Card and Start Times Subject to Change.*)
For more information about DAZN including schedules, list of compatible streaming devices, platforms, Smart TVs, availability around the world, to subscribe to DAZN Ultimate or to purchase this event separately please visit: www.DAZN.com
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