Moses Itauma has the opportunity to win the IBF heavyweight title against Filip Hrgovic on August 29, but simply collecting the belt isn’t the most interesting part. Stopping Hrgovic would give the 21-year-old a more impressive first championship win than Anthony Joshua managed against Charles Martin.
Joshua dispatched Martin in two rounds in April 2016 to capture the IBF title. The result looked spectacular, but Martin was hardly an established champion.
He had won the vacant belt less than three months earlier when Vyacheslav Glazkov suffered a knee injury and was unable to continue in the third round. Martin never had to beat a reigning champion to get the belt, then surrendered it in his first defense against Joshua.
Hrgovic is a much tougher proposition. Gareth A. Davies believes a stoppage win would make Itauma’s first title victory more impressive than Joshua’s demolition of Martin.
“I’d like to see a stoppage of Filip Hrgovic, but if you want the major statement, that’s it. And he’s a world champion, and he’s got a stoppage. And if you compare it to Anthony Joshua winning against Charles Martin, winning the IBF title against Charles Martin, then, you know, it does have comparative values, and it’s probably a bigger performance, and it’s probably a bigger statement than that could ever have been,” said Gareth to talkSPORT Boxing.
Hrgovic has already shared the ring with Daniel Dubois, Zhilei Zhang and Joe Joyce. He is durable, physically strong and willing to trade when opponents come after him.
Itauma hasn’t faced anyone close to that level yet. Jermaine Franklin, Dillian Whyte and the other heavyweights on his record haven’t forced him through the kind of fight Hrgovic can potentially provide.
If Itauma runs through Hrgovic anyway, the belt will only tell part of the story. Joshua flattened Martin, but Itauma would have stopped the better heavyweight.
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Last Updated on 2026/08/09 at 10:38 PM
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