That’s all for now. Thanks as always for following along with us and be sure to check out Donald McRae’s ringside report from tonight’s stunner right here .
Related: Filip Hrgovic stuns Britain’s Moses Itauma to claim IBF world heavyweight title
Prince Naseem Hamed, speaking on the Dazn broadcast, says he was surprised by Itauma’s approach : “My immediate reaction is I’m so surprised that he could just go out there and for them to tell him just to keep punching and go fully at it when he knew – if he knew – he had to reserve himself. There was no reserve tank.
“But you know what? This may be the best thing that ever happens to Moses, simply because of the experience and for him to know what he’s got to do next time. And he knows he can’t just run away with just trying to blast somebody out.
“But do you know what? How wrong was I? I was wrong. Happy to say I’m wrong. I said I could be wrong and I may be wrong. The fact is, it was a good fight. He didn’t even lose a round, but he just put everything into them five, six, seven, eight rounds.”
Hrgović is already looking beyond tonight – and the new IBF champion has little interest in simply satisfying his mandatory obligation.
Frank Warren initially said Frank Sanchez, who stepped aside to allow tonight’s fight to happen, would be next. Hrgović immediately had other ideas.
“Come on, man. What Frank Sanchez? I want a unification,” he said, pointing toward ringside at Daniel Dubois, who holds the WBO title. “I want this guy right here, Daniel Dubois. Unification. If he wins next fight, I want [WBC champion] Agit Kabayel. I want a unification. Frank Sanchez will wait. He’ll get another step-aside. He’ll make money without fighting and everyone’s happy.”
Kabayel, also at ringside, was only too happy to entertain the idea. “Why not? We make this fight,” he said. “I’m ready. I fight everyone. Kurdish power fights with Croatian power. Why not? Let’s go.”
Warren was less committal, acknowledging the obligation to Sanchez but adding: “If we can work it out, we’ll work it out. The name of the game is for all these guys to fight each other and find out who’s the best.”
Hrgović had one other request: a homecoming. “Frank, please give me one fight in Croatia,” said the country’s first world heavyweight champion. “I’m fighting 20 years already all around the world. I need a fight in Croatia.”
Warren’s response: “We will do our best to make that happen. You deserve it.”
That prompted Hrgović to take stock of the improbable night.
“Against all odds, coming in London against the most talented young guy in the world, killer southpaw, new Mike Tyson, how they call him,” Hrgović said. “Coming in London against all odds, 34 years, and making this. It’s incredible. God is great.”
Frank Warren has revealed that Itauma had suffered a leg injury , although he offered no further details. He backed the 21-year-old to recover from his first professional defeat.
“He’s got to go back and get back to the drawing board and he can come again,” Warren said. “He’s only a young man. He’s 21 years of age. It was an opportunity. He took it and it wasn’t to be.”
“Let me tell you something,” an emotional Hrgović says. “It was not me tonight. It was Jesus Christ in me. Holy Spirit. Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. It was not me. I was losing every round. I was outboxed. And I don’t know from where I got energy in that [ninth] round. And it was really not my strength. It was Holy Spirit.
“He gave me strength in this camp to endure everything, to have the best camp of my life. He put me in touch with this great coach, Abel Sanchez. I was in the best shape of my life because of him. He put me in touch with my manager, Keith Connolly, who changed my life, the best manager in business. And all my team, my nephew Antonio, my chef, my physiotherapist, sparring partners – he set up everything to have a perfect camp and to have a perfect fight. So thanks to my Lord Jesus Christ.”
Hrgović, who had confidently predicted before the fight that he would send Itauma “back to high school”, said his experience ultimately proved the difference.
“Look, chin is important,” Hrgović said. “He’s an amazing fighter. I want to thank him for accepting this fight, to give me a chance to become a new superstar in the heavyweight division. I’m the present and he’s definitely the future.”
Hrgović described Itauma as “one of a kind” and “the best I’ve been in the ring with”, but said the 21-year-old’s lack of experience began to show as the fight wore on.
“He gassed out,” Hrgović said. “I felt the pace of the fight. I knew I was losing rounds, but I knew that I had that pace in my favor. He was gassing out. He needs more experience, but he’s one of a kind.”
Hrgović said he sensed almost immediately that Itauma’s blistering start would eventually catch up with him. Despite being comprehensively outboxed early and dropped in the second round, the Croatian believed his younger opponent was expending energy at an unsustainable rate.
“From the first round, I saw he was gassing out,” Hrgović said. “I saw he started that fast. I knew he was going to gas out at some point. And I knew when my chance came, I needed to push. And that’s what I did.”
What an extraordinary turnaround at the O2. Itauma looked sensational early, his speed and power giving Hrgović all sorts of problems, and he dropped the Croatian in the second round. But Hrgović absorbed everything the 21-year-old threw at him and simply refused to go away.
Then the fight turned. Itauma began to tire badly after the sixth and Hrgović’s experience, chin and persistence took over. By the ninth, Itauma was completely spent. Hrgović battered him around the ring until Ben Davison threw in the towel, completing a remarkable comeback.
It is a stunning upset – and a historic one. Hrgovic becomes Croatia’s first world heavyweight champion, while Itauma suffers his first professional defeat after being anointed by so many as the division’s next king before he had even won a belt.
Itauma's corner throws in the towel in round nine!
Hrgović is battering a completely sapped Itauma in the opening minute. Itauma missing a lot of punches and missing them wildly. Hrgović lands a massive right hand that sends Itauma reeling into the ropes. Itauma is exhuasted! Hrgović pours it on, unloading shot after shot on Itauma and he can barely stay on his feet! Are they going to stop this fight? Itauma’s corner has thrown in the towel! Unbelievable!
Itauma begins to pour it on in the second half of the round, battering Hrgović around the ring and opening a cut over his eye. Forty-five seconds to go and Itauma is pummeling away, going for the stoppage. The referee is taking a closer look. But Hrgović fires back! He’s battering an exhausted Itauma, who sold out for the stoppage and is breathing heavy! This is a live fight!
Guardian’s unofficial score: Itauma 10-9 Hrgović (Itauma 79-72 Hrgović)
Itauma is into the seventh round for the first time in his career. Itauma continues to score to the head and body with a higher workrate, but Hrgović is taking the shots well and both men look equally pressed for stamina. Itauma clips Hrgović with a right hand in the final seconds that moves him backwards.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Itauma 10-9 Hrgović (Itauma 69-63 Hrgović)
Itauma is outthrowing and outlanding his opponent to the head and the body. Hrgović rallies back nicely in the final minute, chin-checking Itauma with a right hand and following it up with three or four more blows upstairs. But the 21-year-old closes strong again, landing another big shot at the bell.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Itauma 10-9 Hrgović (Itauma 59-54 Hrgović)
Speed kills. It’s been the difference in this fight so far. Hrgović looks exhausted. The only strategy appears to be enduring the punishment around long enough to test Itauma’s stamina. Itauma detonates a concussive uppercut on Hrgović’s chin in the final seconds of the round but Hrgović somehow remains upright.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Itauma 10-9 Hrgović (Itauma 49-45 Hrgović)
Hrgović appears lightyears more relaxed and settled than in the first round, but he’s been cut and is still in there with a dangerous foe who’s got the whole arena behind him. The strategy is clearly to let Itauma gas out and it’s not a bad thought, but Ituama is still outthrowing and outlanding him. What a chin from Hrgović. How many more of these shots can he take?
Guardian’s unofficial score: Itauma 10-9 Hrgović (Itauma 39-36 Hrgović)
The pace has slowed markedly into the third. Hrgović is coming forward now and scoring with power shots including a thudding right cross, but Itauma takes it well. The closest round of the fight and Hrgović has done just enough to shade it.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Itauma 9-10 Hrgović (Itauma 29-27 Hrgović)
Hrgović is down early in the round! Itauma catches him with a counter right hook for a flash knockdown. The Croatian quickly makes his feet, but the chasm in hand speed between these two is alarming. Then Hrgović, who has been almost completely shut down for a round and a half, finally starts letting his hands go in the final minute. Perhaps he’s beginning to get a read on Itauma’s timing. Still, another terrific round for the youngster.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Itauma 10-8 Hrgović (Itauma 20-17 Hrgović)
There’s the bell! The meet in the center of the ring and it’s a big right hook early from Itauma that lands on Hrgović’s temple. Deafening cheers for Itauma from the rollicking crowd. Good punch variety early for Itauma, who is really on the front foot here throwing loaded shots from all angles. Hrgović has yet to really get anything going through the first 90 seconds. A heavy left hand from Itauma lands and sends Hrgović reeling backwards. Another head-body combination from Itauma. Hrgović looks wobbly. A dream start from the 21-year-old from Chatham.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Itauma 10-9 Hrgović (Itauma 10-9 Hrgović)
The waiting is over. The final instructions have been given by referee Howard Foster, the seconds are out and we’ll pick it up with round-by-round coverage from here!
The fighters are making their entrances for the main event. First out is Hrgović, emerging to Geni Kameni, the rousing Croatian nationalist anthem by the controversial rock singer Thompson. Now here comes Itauma, making his way to the ring in a black sleeveless vest to a medley of Sister Nancy’s Bam Bam and Crystal Waters’ Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless). He’s moving with purpose, practically at a canter.
One final newsy note before Itauma and Hrgovic make their ringwalks. Chantelle Cameron has just beaten Mikaela Mayer by unanimous decision in Birmingham to become the unified three-belt champion at 154lb. Cameron prevailed by scores of 97-93, 97-93 and 96-94 after 10 rounds. Alycia Baumgardner calls it her favorite fight of the year! Claressa Shields wants the winner and the loser!
Meanwhile, back at the O2, we’re going through the national anthems of Croatia and the United Kingdom ahead of the main event fighter entrances.
It’s a night for the heavyweights, with various big men at contrasting stages of their careers in attendance. Agit Kabayel, Daniel Dubois, Fabio Wardley, Joe Joyce and Derek Chisora are at ringside. I hope we don’t ever see the last two in a fight again but Dubois and Wardley, who waged a thrilling battle earlier this year, have just announced the date of their rematch. I hope Wardley has had enough time to recover from the damage he absorbed in May. Kabayel, meanwhile, was gifted the WBC world title in June, after Oleksander Usyk gave up his belts.
Meanwhile, at lightweight, Sam Noakes was too young and fresh for Denys Berinchyk, the 38-year-old Ukrainian, in the last bout on the undercard, winning a wide decision on points. And Noakes did make his ring walk to the mighty Dolly Parton.
Not too long now before Moses Itauma and Filip Hrgović …
Frank Warren has just made some news from the ring at the O2. Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley will meet again for the WBO heavyweight title at the same venue on 17 October.
Wardley has exercised his rematch clause after their bloody first encounter in Manchester, when he floored Dubois twice in the opening round before Dubois took control and ultimately won. The roles will be reversed this time: Dubois enters as champion, Wardley as challenger.
Also announced: Northern Ireland’s Anthony Cacace will defend his WBA junior-lightweight title against Liverpool’s Nick Ball on 19 December in Belfast.
Sam Noakes has scored the biggest win of his career , outclassing former world champion Denys Berinchyk to win a 10-round unanimous decision. The 29-year-old from Kent controlled the fight throughout, winning by scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92.
That’s it for the undercard at the O2. The final countdown to Moses Itauma v Filip Hrgović is on.
Elsewhere in England, Caroline Dubois has retained her WBC and WBO lightweight titles with a unanimous-decision win over Amelia Moore in Birmingham. Dubois dropped Moore in the fifth round before the challenger rallied to make the fight more competitive than the 99-90, 99-90 and 98-91 scorecards suggested.
Afterwards, Dubois became embroiled in a heated exchange with Alycia Baumgardner, the WBA, WBO and IBF champion at 130lb, adding the latest chapter to the simmering war of words between the promotional stablemates that has been building for the past year.
There was no shortage of needle at Friday’s weigh-in , where the bad blood that has simmered throughout fight week finally boiled over. After an expletive-laden face-off at Spitalfields Market, Itauma shoved Hrgović off the stage, sending the Croatian stumbling backwards. Hrgovic quickly climbed back up and struck Itauma in the face before security separated them.
“I just lost it a little bit,” Itauma admitted afterwards, later adding: “I had a little itch, and I just had to scratch it.” The flashpoint followed days of Hrgović provoking the 21-year-old, repeatedly calling him a “kid” and “delusional” and promising to “send him back to high school”.
There is a gnawing contradiction at the heart of Saturday’s promotion. Itauma is being put forth as boxing’s next big star, with the chance to become the youngest world heavyweight champion since Mike Tyson nearly 40 years ago.
Yet in the US, Itauma v Hrgović costs $59.99 on Dazn PPV, while UK viewers must fork over £24.99 and Australians A$39.99. Those prices are on top of a standard Dazn subscription, although the fight is included for subscribers to the more expensive Ultimate tier. This is not an unfamiliar arrangement in modern boxing, but it is a strange way to build an audience around a 21-year-old fighter who is supposed to help carry the sport into its next era.
If boxing wants Itauma to become a mainstream attraction, surely the priority should be getting him in front of as many eyeballs as possible. Instead, potential new fans are being asked to clear multiple financial barriers simply to watch him fight.
The Canadian journalist Ariel Helwani was rather less diplomatic about it this week.
“Putting a fight like Moses Itauma v Filip Hrgovic this weekend behind the pay-per-view wall is actually criminal,” Helwani said. “That is truly criminal. What are you doing? Enough already. Stop putting these fights behind multiple paywalls. They did it last weekend too with the López-Romero fight . You want people to fall in love with these fighters? You got to make them accessible.”
Correction: there’s one more preliminary fight before Noakes v Berinchyk. And it was a quick one. Nelson Hysa, aka the Albanian Eagle, just made quick work of the badly overmatched Thomas Narmo, scoring a brutal technical knockout early in the second round.
The arena looks pretty close to full which is a positive surprise. There was speculation earlier in the week that ticket sales had been a little sluggish and when I arrived just before seven this evening they were still selling seats to people who had just walked up to the 02. This is only Moses Itauma’s 15th fight and, while his face has been plastered across London’s buses the past few weeks, he is still a 21-year-old fighter who is at the start of his ascent to elite-level boxing.
This could be the fight, against a tough and ambitious Filip Hrgović, which could mark the big breakthrough for Itauma. At the same time there is a risk that the callow prodigy might be exposed. I reckon that Itauma will be too good for Hrgović, but the atmosphere is building and there is a nice little frisson of uncertainty in the air.
Here’s how Itauma and Hrgović measure up ahead of tonight’s main event. Itauma is the younger man by 13 years and gives away an inch and a half in height and three inches in reach, but he will enter the ring as the heavier fighter. The 21-year-old tipped the scales at 241.7lb, compared with 232.6lb for Hrgovic. The Croatian brings a significant edge in professional experience, having boxed 105 rounds to Itauma’s 31.
Here’s where things stand in the order of play. Constantin Ursu has just retained his British and Commonwealth welterweight titles with an eighth-round stoppage of Ben Vaughan. The unbeaten champion was pushed hard by a game Vaughan before a severe cut over his right eyebrow brought the contest to a premature end at the O2. Ursu improves to 16-0 (7 KOs) with the TKO win.
That leaves one more undercard fight before tonight’s main event: a scheduled 12-round lightweight scrap between Sam Noakes and Denys Berinchyk.
Hello and welcome to London’s O2 Arena, where we are counting down to one of the more intriguing heavyweight attractions of the year and, just maybe, the launch of a new era in boxing’s bellwether division.
Moses Itauma is only 21 years old, unbeaten in 14 paying fights and already being spoken about in the sort of glowing terms normally reserved for fighters who have spent years at or near the top of the division. Tonight the prodigiously gifted southpaw from Chatham can become the second-youngest heavyweight champion in history, behind only Mike Tyson, when he faces Filip Hrgović for the vacant International Boxing Federation title at the O2 Arena.
The hype is not difficult to understand. Itauma has speed uncommon for a man his size, concussive power and an ability to attack from angles that Barry Jones believes separates him from almost every other heavyweight. But for everything we have seen, there is plenty we haven’t. Itauma has boxed only 31 professional rounds. He has never been dragged into the deep waters of a difficult fight, where Andy Lee believes the questions surrounding him become less technical than psychological.
That is where Hrgović comes in. The 34-year-old Croatian has been a professional for nine years and lost only once ( to Daniel Dubois in 2024 ). He has spent the buildup dismissing Itauma as a “delusional kid”, even suggesting that becoming champion so young could “ruin his soul”. It’s an idea Itauma has not entirely dismissed. He has spoken candidly this week about the burden of sudden fame and his desire to “start off like Mike Tyson started, but not end up how Mike Tyson ended”.
It should be mentioned the widely recognized king of the division is still Oleksandr Usyk, the unbeaten former undisputed heavyweight champion from Ukraine who relinquished his remaining world title belts in June but insists he has not retired. But with the old order beginning to clear, Itauma is ideally placed to collect the spoils and establish himself as the leading candidate to inherit Usyk’s throne when the time comes.
We’ll have round-by-round updates, key moments and instant reaction in this space. Stay with us.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Donald McRae’s lookahead to tonight’s fight.
Related: Itauma chases Tyson’s history and fights to save his soul in first world title bout
Related: Filip Hrgovic stuns Britain’s Moses Itauma to claim IBF world heavyweight title
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Bryan Armen Graham. Published 29 Aug 2026, 11:46 pm.
