Moses Itauma vs. Filip Hrgović & Sam Noakes vs. Denys Berinchyk + Nelson Hysa vs. Thomas Narmo RBR.

I made no prediction ahead of the fight just because Itauma took such a step up in comp, but I had hoped for him to show himself to be the next big thing. The talent is there, no doubt, but he showed signs of tiring already in the 3rd. The question was if he could pace himself through if he didn't get the stoppage, but he didn't show that composure and obviously lacks in experience.

 

Damn, that was a classic!

 

Itauma showed he has ability, he ticked the chin box but experience he lacked, he will get there. He wasnt hurt, he wasnt taking punches, its a hard but valuable lesson. Rebuild, hire a new coach, McGuigan would be great and for the love of god, start doing 12 rounds in sparring.

 

Funny how the world moves on. Usyk was the champion, and now its time for the next chapter to unfold. Man, I wish we could have seen him against more than three actual top heavyweights.

 

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Hrgovic did have pockets of success, no doubt, but he was getting soundly beaten throughout. He did manage to line up a couple clean right hands even before the 9th but they were pretty few and far between. Most of the time when he opened up, he was still getting countered at the close of the round. I did think it was concerning seeing Itauma breathing as heavily as he was in the corner for the 1st and 2nd rounds, and it was obviously a poor choice to start that fast against someone so durable. I'm not really sure I agree that he was reading patterns or whether it was more a case of Itauma stepping of the gas and letting go of centre-ring with Hrgovic trying to capitalise as best he could.

 

I heard an interesting point today, saying that Itauma could have taken a knee and a count in the 9th, as he was so far ahead. And that breather may have given him enough to finish the fight and get a points victory.
A 'what if', but an interesting one.

His lack of experience was very obvious, he didn't need to swing for the fences in the last rounds, he could have stayed elusive and still won.

 

Maybe but it was those heavy combos that kept Hrgovic from establishing himself. Moses must have felt it necessary to keep Hrgovic off him. I think Moses looked good but this is one fight where they precisely knew the opponents gameplan….so endurance, stamina or whatever you want to call it must have been top of the agenda in training camp. Some guys just don’t have the engine for long hard fights no matter what they do. He’ll be fine if he can keep catching guys early and getting them out of there, but once he meets someone that can take or evade his punches and make him fight outside of his own pace, I think we’ll see him fade late again. I imagine we’ll see a slow build up now and rightfully so. Hopefully they step him up more wisely

 

Lol.. Ituama gass tank was so empty that if he took a knee his body probably physically wouldn't let him stand up

 

Has anyone mentioned how God awful both guys were in that their hands were down and there was a lot of wild swinging? Itauma in that 9th was God terrible. Windmill punches. No guards, both were horrendous.

 

To be fair, both were pretty spot on in their summation

 

I believe it will be Sanchez as he is the mandatory and was literally paid off.

 

I watched a video on YouTube earlier where somebody was interviewing Abel Sanchez after the fight,Sanchez said the gameplan was to keep Itauma busy and to force him to keep Hrgovic off him every minute of every round by any means then once they could see Itauma slowing down to then slowly increase the actual work rate from Hrgovic. Sanchez himself saying it was a risky gameplan and a gamble relying on Hrgovic being able to weather the storm and then take over the fight and look to stop a tired and gassed Itauma in the later rounds. The plan certainly worked but I’m not sure any other fighter has the chin or even the confidence in there own chin to pull off what Hrgovic did last night .

 

Incredibly dangerous fight for Itauma.