Moses Itauma and Filip Hrgovic have presented an intriguing study in contrast this week. The 21-year-old prodigy from Chatham in Kent, of Slovakian and Nigerian descent, has been a thoughtful and slightly brooding presence while the seasoned 34-year-old from Croatia has been full of sunshine and songs.
On Tuesday, Hrgovic burst into a room where a few boxing writers sat and, looking tanned without a shirt beneath his leather gilet, belted out a word-perfect version of Saturday Night at the Movies, a 1965 ditty by the Drifters.
Related: Reality check: just how good is Britain’s Moses Itauma? The expert view
It was Hrgovic’s way of offering an alternative to the sombre reality of facing Itauma at the O 2 on Saturday night as they fight for the IBF world title. While many pundits believe Itauma is the most thrilling and menacing young heavyweight since Mike Tyson, Hrgovic serenaded us about picking up his baby at eight o’clock on Saturday night and taking her to the picture show.
Hrgovic then cheerfully switched gears and, trying to unsettle his rival psychologically, suggested Itauma could be ruined by celebrity and wealth if he becomes the second‑youngest heavyweight world champion in history. Itauma thinks deeply about the consequences of fame and so he did not brush aside Hrgovic’s comments. “Of course,” he said when asked if the adulation might be too much at 21. “It could definitely be too early. But I’ve always said I want to start off like Mike Tyson started, but not end up how Mike Tyson ended.
“But now I’m in the shoes that Mike Tyson wore, with all the fame and accolades at such a young age, I’m starting to see why he fell the way he did. I just don’t want to make the same mistakes he made.
“So I’m slowly wrapping my head round these things and that’s why I’m so heavily into books because I ain’t ever been in this position before. People are recognising me at places where I don’t want to be recognised. I want to be left alone. Coping with that takes a certain degree of mental toughness. So there is such a thing as too early, but I’m taking the necessary precautions to handle it.”
Itauma then considered the strange nature of fame. “People grow such a relationship towards somebody that doesn’t know them. Someone might look up to me and hold me in such high regard, but I don’t even know them. And when I meet them it might be an off day where I’m not exactly feeling like I want to interact with anyone, and all of a sudden that person’s turned into my biggest hater. I respect the people that come to watch me boxing but there’s an element of my own personal space that I need. But people start thinking, just because you’re in the public eye, that you are public property, and obviously you ain’t.”
The sceptical new sensation Itauma said he has thought “that my life was fake anyway. Since I was 18 I felt like I’m doing something I’m not supposed to do. It doesn’t really make me uncomfortable because I need to do something and, if I’m good at boxing, then why not? It’s more the stuff outside the ring I’m uncomfortable with, like the interviews, talking to the media. If you get an average 20-year-old and an average 30-year-old, you’re going to see the difference in how they present themselves and talk. I had to do it since I was 18. So I’m trying to get rid of the narrative I created [of being reclusive] when I was 18.”
Itauma added more intently: “I just want to be authentic, whether people like me or not.”
He thought carefully when asked what he meant about his life being fake. “If you was to say to anybody: ‘Oh, a guy born in Slovakia who grew up in Chatham will become a heavyweight champion of the world at such a young age. Do you think that would happen?’ The majority would say ‘no’.
“I wasn’t supposed to do this. When I was younger, my parents wanted me to learn something academic so I’d become a doctor or a lawyer. But when I was around 15 everybody was on the same page that I’m into boxing and this is my identity. When you’re trying to step away from that, and you’ve got people pushing you back into it, it’s very hard.”
Does he wish he could have become a doctor? “No, I’d much rather be a boxer. But I want to big up the NHS here. My mate broke his leg not too long ago playing football, and I went to see him. A hospital is a difficult place to turn up to every day and help the people there. I can’t imagine what doctors or nurses go through every single day. I don’t think I’d be able to do what they do.”
Instead, Itauma is keeping himself mentally stimulated by learning French, his third language after Slovakian and English, in between reading and training. It means he’s increasingly rounded and interesting – even if such introspection has encouraged Hrgovic to believe Itauma’s developing mind is too conflicted for him to become a world heavyweight champion now.
If any other emerging heavyweight spoke so much about the burden of fame I would feel concern for him going into a fight with a man as experienced and tough as Hrgovic. But, while admitting: “If I win this fight it might not be good for my soul,” Itauma stressed: “I’ve got too much ego to let somebody else beat me.”
Itauma has only fought 31 rounds in 14 professional bouts. Hrgovic, meanwhile, has been through adversity both in and out of the ring as a pro for nine years. He has only lost once, when he was cut against Daniel Dubois whom he had rocked and hurt.
But the expectation is that Itauma’s speed of thought and movement, the angles he uses and the power with which he punches, will be too much for a good – but not great – heavyweight in Hrgovic. It will be a surprise if the reluctant superstar in the making does not win his first world title in conclusive style.
The real battle – for his soul and sense of self – will then resume with far greater intensity. But Itauma appears increasingly ready to adapt and win even this much more complex struggle with the inevitable rush of fame and glory.
On Tuesday, Hrgovic burst into a room where a few boxing writers sat and, looking tanned without a shirt beneath his leather gilet, belted out a word-perfect version of Saturday Night at the Movies, a 1965 ditty by the Drifters.
This report is published with credit to The Guardian. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on The Guardian →
Source: The Guardian · Donald McRae. Published 29 Aug 2026, 07:00 am.
