Moses Itauma walked into the O2 Arena expecting to leave as a world heavyweight champion. Instead, he left on a stretcher after a stunning ninth-round collapse against Filip Hrgovic and fellow British heavyweight Dave Allen believes that kind of ending can leave a lasting mark.
Itauma had looked well ahead on the cards, dominating the more experienced Hrgovic through the first half of the fight for the vacant IBF title. But the 21-year-old prodigy began fading in the second half, unable to finish off the granite-chinned Croatian.
He finally collapsed under pressure in round nine ending his undefeated record and handing Hrgovic the distinction of becoming Croatia’s first heavyweight world champion.
Speaking to talkSPORT Boxing afterward, Allen drew a personal parallel, recalling his own stretcher exit from that same venue seven years ago following a knockout loss to David Price. Allen said watching Itauma reminded him of his own experience, admitting he was never the same fighter after his own stretcher exit and doesn’t believe he ever fully recovered from it.
Even so, he praised Itauma’s performance up to that point, noting how rare it is for anyone to have Hrgovic beaten across seven of eight rounds the way Itauma did.
He looked like a kid in there, with no experience. He is an incredible talent, he was beating Filip Hrgovic seven rounds to one, there is not many people in the world that could do that, it was incredible, he is incredible, but I’ll tell you one thing – that is going to take some coming back from.
“I have left this arena on a stretcher seven years ago when I boxed David Price and I was never the same man after, never. I have never been the same man or the same fighter since.
Itauma has already requested an immediate rematch with Hrgovic, but it looks like the new champion will first be required to defend against mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez before any trilogy talk becomes realistic.
