Moses Itauma discusses August fight with Filip Hrgovic

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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 28: Moses Itauma poses for a photograph as he celebrates victory with his title belts after defeat Jermaine Franklin Jr (not pictured) during the EBU European and WBO Inter-Continental Featherweight Titles fight between Moses Itauma and Jermaine Franklin Jr at Co-Op HQ on March 28, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images) | Getty Images Moses Itauma has landed a good opponent in Filip Hrgovic set for this August and speaking to talkSPORT about the fight and bringing it all together, Itauma shares some thoughts on he rates his upcoming opponent. Check out some of what he had to say below. Itauma on how he views this fight with Hrgovic and how it came to be “I just focus on sticking to the game plan and if it leads to a knockout, it leads to a knockout. If it don’t, it don’t. So I’m not really too focused on [getting the KO] but we’ll see. “It was actually going to be — so I’m ranked #1 with the WBO, he’s ranked #2, and had Fabio would’ve won he would’ve relinquished the title and me and Hrgovic could’ve fought for that real world title so I could’ve been a champion at 21. But we didn’t get that accolade but the Hrgovic fight still stands so I’m happy I got that. “I didn’t think that the fight was going to happen until like maybe last week or so because we proposed the fight to him and I kept asking every single day ‘has he signed, has he signed, has he signed?’ Never signed, so we started looking at other opponents and then it was like maybe the end of last week he was like ‘actually I want the bout agreement’ so I was like we’re on now.” On how he rates Hrgovic “I think he’s very good and I personally think he’s one of the best of the crops…The guy’s achieved a lot so I guess the good thing in boxing is I can claim them achievements, if that makes sense. So if Filip Hrgovic would’ve done all these great things, but if I’m able to do a number on him then people are going to say ‘yeah, Hrgovic is good but did you see what Moses Itauma did to him?’ So it’s just a respect thing and kind of boost my ego.” On if there’s anyone out there he fears fighting “Boxing is for me a puzzle and with the right preparation I don’t think there’s a puzzle I can’t solve. So I wouldn’t necessarily say I fear anyone, it’s just there are fights out there that might be easier than others.”

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LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 22: Moses Itauma reacts during a press conference ahead of his heavyweight fight against Filip Hrgovic on the 'Natural Born Thriller' card at Studio 338 on June 22, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by James Fearn/Getty Images) | Getty Images After it was formally announced that Moses Itauma will be taking on Filip Hrgovic on August 29, Queensberry promoter told Sky Sports that the future of his 21-year-old star in the making is quite bright indeed, and while he’s already in position to contend for a world title, they want to keep him active rather than waiting out a title fight. “If [Itauma] wins, world title fight. He’s No 1 now, he could sit it out and wait for it but we want to keep him busy and get experience and that’s what he wants,” Warren said. “I’d like that to happen, I’d like him to fight this year for it. We want to be able to get it done this year.” Itauma, with a more muted tone, says he leaves it all in God’s hands and that if not this year, he could get his chance in the coming year. Of course, that’s all contingent on him coming through with the task at hand in Hrgovic, who has his own plans of wrecking Itauma’s. Pressure, however, is something Itauma says he’s accustomed to, and is not something he allows to get too him much as he instead adopts the philosophy of allowing the pressure to forge him into a diamond.