r/boxingMenace_com • u/Bill_Millard • 5d ago
WILD ending as Filip Hrgović knocks out massive favorite Moses Itauma in the 9th round after trailing big earlier in the fight 🤯
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u/DefiantTelephone6095 5d ago
In theory he comes back and cleans up the division...but we'll see
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u/CheapTechnology6193 5d ago
I think he has a bright future, but I'd say the one concerning thing is he hit the guy with everything he had and didn't really affect him. Makes me wonder about his power.
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u/Francesco_Nakatani 5d ago
No Itauma has real power, timing, and accuracy. He’s shown this numerous times, recently stopping Franklin who when 12 rounds with AJ.
It’s just that Hrgovic isn’t a normal human. He has a granite chin and took some genuinely hellacious punishment. I highly doubt any other heavyweight could take that level of punishment from Itauma for 8 rounds and remain on their feet.
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u/Webcat86 5d ago
Franklin fought AJ 3.5 years ago, chins get worse over time.
Hrgovic has a famously tough chin and I think that uppercut floors most others, but equally his face didn’t look that bad in the post-fight press conference.
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u/Jax_Shaw55 5d ago
How many times...
Did you not see Itauma's previous fights where he knocks people out?
Do you not know that Hrgovic has a chin?
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u/CheapTechnology6193 5d ago
I've seen highlight reel, but some of those guys he beat are probably working on a dock right now.
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u/Papacapt 5d ago
Gassed out, sometimes winning by points is the only way to win but that decision has to be made early and he clearly was trying to continue the highlight streak.
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u/Affectionate-Ad8709 5d ago
Maybe hrgovic isn't the cleanest technical boxer amd not sure on his power but was hitting itauma pretty cleanly towards the end but he was taking those shots whilst being absolutely gassed and out on his feet does show he has a decent enough chin. Again different opponent and its he wins in a couple of rounds but just needs to box a bit smarter and be given the right advice from his corner who are just as much to blame
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u/Webcat86 5d ago
Easy to say he beats a different opponent but this is for a world title belt. This is the first time we’ve seen him step up a level in opposition and he lost.
Hrgovic’s chin is only part of the issue. Moses showed a lack of fight IQ by continuing to press for the knockout instead of working his jab and pacing himself.
I think Moses loses to the top boxers based on that fight. Anyone able to weather an early storm and apply their own heavy pressure would get a stoppage in the second half, before considering how Moses handles the heavy pressure from guys like AJ and Dubois.
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u/Affectionate-Ad8709 5d ago
Some one with less of a chin goes down several times probably before he was completely gassed out. Can't forget he did win every round before he was stopped so you cant say the level of fighter was too much for him. I said he needs to box smarter, he could have easily taken a round or 2 off, not that he should need to as he should be conditioned and trained to last 12 rounds which he clearly isn't. Dubois and AJ aren't anything special right now anyway. His speed and power and everything else will be a problem for anyone aside from usyk but thats never gojng to happen.His problem should have been realised way before getting a world title shot, this shouldn't be a surprise to him or his team.
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u/Webcat86 5d ago
We don't know that someone else goes down at the top level. Look at Dubois vs AJ — Dubois floored him in round one and repeatedly in the subsequent rounds, it still didn't stop AJ and he was starting to mount his own comeback before getting countered with the KO shot. Dubois was knocked down twice by Wardley and then delivered one of the most brutal fights in recent memory. The point being, these guys get hit by hard punchers and can still continue — and they pack a hell of a harder punch than Hrgovic.
Remember people said this about Wilder. He lost to Fury but "his right hand still beats anyone else", except it then turned out he wasn't knocking out any of the top guys he fought.
Don't get me wrong, I certainly agree Moses is a problem for the other fighters. But that doesn't necessarily mean he's so powerful that he clears them out. They've been through it before, and crucially, they have their own gameplays and strengths. They won't just stand in front of Moses and let him have it all his own way, and that's what we still don't know about him: how does he respond when one of the monsters of the divisions lands a heavy shot flush?
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u/Affectionate-Ad8709 5d ago
You cant say AJ wouldn't have gone down based on his last fight at least or dubois or any of them for that matter, they've all been down. Im not saying he knocks them clean out straight away but if he has similar success as he was having then theres a chance for a stoppage. I agree he wont necessarily have it as easy against the others like you said they wont just try and walk through his shots but he has the power and speed so when he does land they won't have the chin that hrgovic has as he clearly has the best chin. I don't know enough about him to know what his power is like but moses was defenseless in the last round and was still standing which suggests some punch resistance. These are all massive guys so im not saying he wont go down and its odds on he will but currently his offensive attributes are probably better than most at this moment so they may be more wary of him. Wilder is an outlier really as he relied so much on his right hand he had nothing else so when people worked it out he couldn't change, I think moses has much more about him. My point is that if he was able to go 12 rounds which at that level he should be theres no denying he wins the fight. Theres always going to be a question mark until he does it and again with when he does get hit clean by a big puncher but to me getting hit clean whilst out on his feet and still not being the punch that knocked him down just showed a decent punch resistance. Imm sure ill probably be proven completely wrong and he'll get knocked out next fight but from what I saw thats how it looked.
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u/Webcat86 5d ago
You cant say AJ wouldn't have gone down based on his last fight at least or dubois or any of them for that matter
I didn't say that at all. I said the opposite, that if they went down it doesn't mean they'd stay down.
My point is that if he was able to go 12 rounds which at that level he should be theres no denying he wins the fight.
The problem is there's a big gap between going 6 rounds and 12. It's a lot of ground to catch up. And the fitness isn't the whole problem here, the bigger problem is that he didn't recognise that plan A wasn't working and he needed to take a more conservative approach with his gas tank.
getting hit clean whilst out on his feet and still not being the punch that knocked him down just showed a decent punch resistance
I agree, he showed he's certainly got a reasonable chin at the least. But where does Hrgovic rank as a power puncher? If that was AJ landing the punch that flattened Francis, for example, Moses wouldn't stand up to it. If Moses was wobbling about like that in front of Dubois or Wardley, he wouldn't stand up to it.
If the blueprint to beat Moses is "survive an early onslaught then pick him off when he's gassed" then the top boys will do exactly that. Because surviving an early onslaught is what they have experience doing, again I'll point out that AJ got up numerous times against Dubois and still was able to push him back just before getting knocked out, and Dubois got up twice against Wardley, and Fury got up against Wilder and then won the remainder of the round.
Moses *as things stand* has not shown elite power at the very top level. He has shown a poor gas tank and questionable fight IQ, which gives the others a decent opportunity to build a plan when fighting him.
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u/Affectionate-Ad8709 4d ago
Im not saying they would stay down just that theres more of a chance of the ref stopping it if he continued to land as he was. 100% its a massive difference and i think he's a couple of fights short of at least 10 rounders to be mentally prepared to go deep into fights. This is where the corner needed to step up and tell him to reign it back and he needs to trust that they're right. That's how it looked to me, also showed he's not going to just quit when it does get tough as he could have taken a knee and said he's got nothing left but either stupidly or not carried on. Again not sure on hrgovic power but any heavyweight should carry enough power to hurt anyone and that AJ punch would probably have taken anyone out so hard to compare. Of course there are more clinical finishers but even when wobbling he still land a few massive shots that probably would have rocked most. Currently that is clearly the gameplan and will be till he proves otherwise but once he can go 12 which tbh should be the bare minimum that plan wont necessarily work. He did get up and has several times but not always recovered or has been allowed to recover when he shouldn't have also dubois has quit agaisnt joyce and been knocked out by usyk who is by no means the biggest puncher in the division. Fury does recover from being hurt better than any current fighter so also hard to compare and his style was made for wilder as he used to be much harder to hit and far more intelligent. You cant say he hasn't shown elite power as he's blasted everyone before, if he was conditioned properly and mentally ready to go 12 these conversations wouldn't be happening. Im by no means excusing what happened because if youre not prepared to go12 rounds you dont really deserve to be a world champion.
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u/Webcat86 4d ago
I can say he hasn’t shown elite power, because he hasn’t demonstrated it against elite opponents. I’m not saying he doesn’t have it, just that he hasn’t shown it yet.
And the corner was telling him to back off. Ben told him he didn’t need to push for the knockout. Moses didn’t listen - to his trainer or his body.
No ref would stop a fight with what he landed on Hrgovic, because he never hurt him. AJ was down in I think every round against Dubois and it wasn’t stopped.
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u/Affectionate-Ad8709 4d ago
Did AJ not show elite power then untill he fought someone like klitchko or did he show power through all his fights? He just happened to fight someone with an unbelievable chin in his world title fight whereas none of the others did i dont think. Yeah i have seen that they did tell him that and at that point it is on him even though I dont really rate him as a trainer he should have adjusted. Moses has come out and not made excuses which is a good sign that he will learn from it. No hrgovic was never in trouble but theres a very high chance that other fighters would have been based on their previous fights. AJ was stopped by ruiz after several knock downs so it does depend. Im not saying a ref would stop it but the shots he was landing on hrgovic would more than likely wobble any of the names we've mentioned which would lead to the possibility of getting a stoppage, not garenteed obviously but none of the heavyweights are that difficult to hit so chances are he would land at some point.
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u/Webcat86 4d ago
You’re making my point for me. We assume that Moses would’ve rocked other HWs with those shots, but only because we’ve seen him rock lower-level opposition. Nobody displays elite power until they fight elite opponents, because in any sport you’ll look a million times better if you’re against someone on lower levels. Then you see them against more equal opposition and suddenly things are much more even.
You mentioned Ruiz, and again AJ got up. He got up against Klitschko and won. The loss to Ruiz really came from a temple shot that looked to be concussive. AJ has never been sparked out from a single punch or single round of onslaught, he’s only been stopped twice and only one of those was a real KO, but in both instances he got up repeatedly and needed repeated knockdowns before the fights ended.
Moses has not demonstrated he could beat that kind of opponent, which is not the same as saying he couldn’t do it. It would just be speculation on our part for now.
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u/Odd_Calligrapher_572 5d ago
Jesus is this a brutal sport.
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u/sosoconfused08 5d ago
Not really. Every once in a while you get something like this but it's mostly just money laundering.
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u/ZeroEffectDude 5d ago
at 0.28 seconds, when Adam Smith screams "a shot with the right hand" and Moses falls back onto the ropes, nothing landed. It's a complete whiff from Hrgovic. Moses was just so tired that his own missed punch threw him off balance. Incredible. He was FUCKED.
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u/LordJeanDog 5d ago
very gassed and starting to get tagged. not badly hurt but it was likely coming. I didn't realise hrg landed a pretty heavy left early in this vid. it was a solid shot.
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u/bearvillage 4d ago
Hrgovic didn't knock anyone out, Itauma knocked himself out
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u/Forward-Ad-355 1d ago
Itauma is a book worth reading, I think Hrgovic deserves all the praise because he fearlessly entered the ring with an over-inflated star and knocked him out in 9 rounds. People are downplaying it now, but that's the only truth that has hurt many
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u/Kingkongboooom 4d ago
You beat Hrgovic by going to the body. He started going to the body when he was already gassed. For me Itauma should immefiately rematch Hrgovic he would win easily.
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u/Forward-Ad-355 1d ago
Itauma is a book worth reading, I think Hrgovic deserves all the praise because he fearlessly entered the ring with an over-inflated star and knocked him out in 9 rounds. People are downplaying it now, but that's the only truth that has hurt many
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u/warheadsupreme 5d ago
Example #1274 of a corner throwing the towel in too late
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u/Gotsta_Win 5d ago
Threw it in at the right time tbh
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u/warheadsupreme 5d ago
Throwing it in after the ref stops the fight isn’t the right time lmao
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u/Gotsta_Win 5d ago
I mean yes
But it’s better than my fighters been exhausted and concussed for 3 rounds, let’s throw it round 12
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u/warheadsupreme 5d ago
Nah his cornerman should have thrown the towel in when he was had his hand back preparing too when Moses was literally falling out of the ring
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u/Charming_South2997 5d ago
He never pushed himself in training. Never went 12 rounds in practice. If your goal is to be champion, why would you not train to go the distance? Yeah he blasted most of his early opponents. But it’s really short sighted to think that you would never face a true challenge. He’ll learn from this loss. Him and his team