Filip Hrgović turned a fight that appeared to be slipping away into the defining victory of his career. At London’s O2 Arena, the 34-year-old Croatian stopped 21-year-old Moses Itauma in the ninth round to win the vacant IBF heavyweight championship, according to The Guardian.
Itauma controlled much of the early action and dropped Hrgović with a short right hook in the second round. The younger fighter’s speed and combinations continued to trouble him, but the contest changed late in the eighth as Itauma tired and Hrgović pressed forward. In the ninth, Hrgović drove Itauma into the ropes with sustained punches before the referee intervened as Itauma’s corner threw in the towel.
The result halted Itauma’s attempt to become the second-youngest heavyweight champion and made Hrgović the first Croatian to hold a world heavyweight title. Itauma left the ring on a stretcher with an apparent knee injury. The upset reshapes the division by elevating a veteran who endured the early punishment and exposing, for the first time, the limits of one of boxing’s fastest-rising prospects.
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This page is an original Sporting Page summary. The reporting remains with The Guardian and writer Donald McRae.
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