Itauma remained in distress afterward and was removed from the ring on a stretcher. Frank Warren later attributed that to a leg injury and exhaustion, but the closing sequence still showed a young heavyweight with nothing left when Hrgovic attacked.
Darshan Desai offered the sympathetic reading shared by many Itauma supporters:
“Moses Itauma will come again. He is 21 and he looked sensational at points in that fight. Just needs to work on his gas tank, and get more rounds and experience. I still think he’ll win a world title very soon.”
That may all prove true. Itauma’s career does not need to be buried after one loss at 21. Yet “coming again” should mean rebuilding, not returning to the heavyweight who left him helpless against the ropes.
Queensberry Sent Him There Too Soon
Before facing Hrgovic, Itauma had completed only 31 professional rounds. He had never gone beyond the sixth and had boxed only five rounds against Jermaine Franklin in his previous contest.
Hrgovic brought more than 100 professional rounds and experience against Daniel Dubois and Zhilei Zhang. He had already fought while exhausted, hurt and under heavy pressure. None of those conditions had confronted Itauma before.
That difference took control once the fight moved beyond Itauma’s familiar territory. The early speed remained impressive, and he dropped Hrgovic in the second. Instead of treating the knockdown as part of a 12-round fight, Itauma continued pouring power into combinations against a man known for absorbing punishment.
Once Hrgovic survived, Itauma’s energy drained and no second method surfaced. There was no lower gear to conserve strength, no defensive adjustment and no way to discourage the Croatian once he began walking forward.
The rush to make Itauma one of the youngest heavyweight champions helped create this situation. His knockout victories allowed Queensberry to promote every short night as evidence that he was ready. In truth, those quick finishes denied him the preparation he needed before meeting someone who would not disappear.
Pride Cannot Choose Itauma’s Next Fight
The difficulty will come if Itauma demands another chance. Queensberry spent months presenting him as the next heavyweight ruler and a fighter mature beyond his years. Losing after that buildup creates more than disappointment. The urge to erase the defeat may convince him that beating Hrgovic is the only way to recover what vanished against the ropes.
A second fight would give Hrgovic knowledge that cannot be erased. He knows he can absorb Itauma’s early attack, extend him beyond the rounds he prefers and overwhelm him once the speed and energy disappear.
Itauma’s endurance requires work, but so do his pacing, defensive discipline and ability to survive when a durable opponent refuses to fold. Those improvements come through fights and rounds, not through revisiting a frightening stoppage after one training camp.
Hrgovic has IBF mandatory Frank Sanchez waiting for him. Queensberry should allow that fight to proceed while Itauma recovers and learns how to operate after his early attack fails. If Itauma becomes the champion his handlers promised, Hrgovic may still be there later.
Sending him directly back would not prove confidence. It would show that Queensberry allowed a badly hurt 21-year-old to make a critical career decision while pride and shame were still driving him.
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