Most people still don't really understand what was happening in the Itauma Hrgovic fight

Firstly I will say that this fight merits at least one rewatch. I rewatched it twice. When I watched it live I thought Hrgovic lost all rounds, as did Hrgovic himself. When I rewatched it, he won 3 and 5. 7 was Itauma's but it was very, very close, possibly even a draw. I suggest anybody who hasn't to rewatch the fight and to pay close attention to what both Itauma and Hrgovic are doing, not only Itauma.

I've read and listened to a lot of people's opinions on the subject and few had an analysis of the fight I actually found satisfying, Shane Fury is the only one who appeared to somewhat understand what he was watching.

Casuals (blind people) say Hrgovic just stood there and let Itauma tire himself out on his chin and that Itauma defeated himself. **** take.

Hrgovic finally, as he said himself, after 6 years, came in the shape of his life and was actually decently quick on his feet at 107. Vitali Klitschko v2.0, or rather v0.9 as I'd say Vitali is perhaps a bit more quick and defensively responsible. Unfortunately, this Hrgovic's best form of his life came against, as he said, one of a kind boxer and amazing talent, who is so fast that it's almost impossible to look good against him. But if you just look at Hrgovic how he moved against Itauma and how he moved against, say, Dave Allen, Joyce, or Dubois, when he was 110+kg the improvement is clear and I don't think Hrgovic should go above 110kg ever again.

As for what Hrgovic did in the fight, he didn't just stand there, he constantly sought openings and tried to set up punches, basically creating pressure for Itauma that Itauma had to respond to. And Itauma responded well – his unnatural speed and reflexes allowed him to outbox Hrgovic and hit Hrgovic more than Hrgovic hit him. Itauma won rounds. The problem is that using that speed and reflexes requires energy – Hrgovic's pressure constantly drained Itauma's energy. And pay attention to the end of the rounds, whenever Itauma gets tired and tries to rest, Hrgovic pounces. So the genius idea that some people had that Itauma should have just put his foot off the gas a little can only be said by somebody who clearly didn't understand what they were watching. The only reason Itauma managed to keep Hrgovic off him is by putting his foot on the gas. Whenever Itauma slipped the foot off the gas and tried to rest, as in rounds 3 and 5, Hrgovic pressed him. Itauma is used to dicating the tempo, scaring opponents with combinations, and resting when he wants. Hrgovic didn't allow him the resting phase. Then finally when Hrgovic sensed weakness at the end of the 8th, he finished the job in 9th.

And I guarantee you even if Itauma didn't go all out in the 8th and tried to conserve his energy, it would be Hrgovic going all out in the championship rounds 10-12 the same as he did in 9th, and the outcome would be the same. Anybody who thinks Hrgovic would calmly watch Itauma wobble weakly the last 4 rounds instead of smelling blood and going for the kill suffers from severe delusion. Itauma had no path to victory that specific evening. It was a war of attrition, Hrgovic lost the battles but won the war.

Hrgovic was finally more defensively responsible and reasonably light on his feet compared to previous fights, as I said it's just a shame this best version of him came so late and against the fastest most talented HW fighter in the world against whom it's just impossible to look good. It's the first time he had a proper camp with a world class trainer. He took some hard shots from Itauma, but notice how many he also either avoided, or blocked, or at least lessened the impact of by moving or leaning away.

Needless to say speed was on Itauma's side, but Hrgovic showed he's technically a superior boxer and caught Itauma occasionally with some amateur „tricks“, showing Itauma's lack of experience which he usually uses his speed to compensate for.

As for conditioning Hrgovic once again proved he can go into deep rounds and came in excellent shape. The idea that he cannot is based on a single fight, the one with Dubois, where he was sick beforehand and didn't finish camp, I've even seen somebody say Moses should take Hrgovic to late rounds... yeah. No comment. Those who know, know, those who don't, dont.

Casuals only care about flashy speed and KO highlight reels, it takes deeper understanding of boxing to appreciate Hrgovic's more subtle movements and abstract qualities like ring iq, strategy, willpower, etc. So I understand why most people don't get it and underestimated him. Yeah I know that sounds condescending but fundamentally I think it's true. Moses Itauma for casual boxing fans is like a shiny colorful toy for kids.

Yes Itauma was overrated, I don't think anybody would be such a massive favorite against Hrgovic, it was just insane, he'd need to straight up KO Hrgovic in the first half to justify these odds. I favored Hrgovic 60-40 but something like 50-50 IMO would also be reasonable odds, definitely not Hrgovic as a massive underdog. Itauma did prove though that he can not only hang with top 5 guys, but win more rounds against a better version of Hrgovic than Dubois 26 headbutts did against the worst version.

 

Great analysis. I think this is spot on. People saying Itauma just needed to ‘pace himself’ or ‘not try to finish Hrgovic towards the end’ are missing the fact that if Itauma wasn’t operating at 100% at all times then Hrgovic would’ve been much better at winning rounds, could’ve maybe won on points.

This was no Homer Simpson performance from Hrgovic, dude was very smart in there.

 

My bad my English isn't very good. I didn't mean I gave Hrgovic the 7th but that it was close, possibly a draw, I edited the OP to make it more clear.

If that's your scorecard live props man, I think you're one of the few people to get it right on the first watch.

 

I don't think the plan was ever to win on points because, you now, B side, massive underdog, Brit fighter, London arena, Howard Foster, so even before the fight I don't think it was the plan, and I think Abel Sanchez said so himself. Then when Hrgovic saw Moses' speed and lost rounds it definitely stopped being the plan. Yeah I also can't believe some people think Hrgovic would just calmly look at Itauma in the championship rounds 10-12 in his probably last ever chance to become champion.

 

Hrgovic looked like a bum the whole time in the ring. Stunning difference in speed. He was fighting in slow motion mode. Very lucky to be fighting someone with no stamina.

 

As I said I think Itauma is just freakishly fast and nobody else can outspeed Hrgovic that much, nobody has so far.

But no point discussing that much, we'll see soon. Hrgovic isn't the type of guy to shy away from defending a belt. We'll see him against top opposition in no time, only worry is how much time doctor will estimate for that cut to heal. Kabayel or Sanchez next.

 

Agreed! For the gameplan that he was executing, and against a speedster like Itauma that had unanswered questions Hrgo fought a great fight and showed much more than just a great chin IMO

• Mental toughness throughout, especially after the flash KD
• good ring IQ and distance management to ride Itauma's shots as much as possible, but still be in range to put pressure on when Moses wanted a breather
• Worked his jab really well in those pockets where Moses would ordinarily have his opponents very cautious - rounds 3 and 5 especially which I think Hrgo had an argument of winning
• Followed Sanchez instructions and stuck to the game plan, with a gradual uptake in work from the 5th, and increasingly making Itauma miss with some ragged wild shots, making him overbalance and drain that tank further.
• Managed his own gas-tank really well - the weight and camp obviously paid dividends here.

 

They underrated Hrgovic for years. This didn't start today or yesterday. So they are digging in. Instead of taking the Dubois fight as proof Hrgovic could beat anyone in the division they took it as Hrgovic being "exposed". Whenever I bring up Hrgovic or Frank Sanchez as guys Usyk should have proven himself against I get some version of "that guys beat no one but bums and he's a gatekeeper".

Someone Hrgovic's size with that sort of jab and an iron chin is going to be very very hard to deal with for anyone. Even more so when he has so much more experience and cut 10 pounds. And I think Itauma's people had to know there was at least a 50% chance he was losing. I get it was for a world title but going from Whyte to Hrgovic was a gigantic leap. Makes me think they want to secure as much as money right away as possible. Because if they don't he could lose at a lower level and they end up with nothing.

 

He was schooled and outlasted Itauma. End of story.

 

Terrible take.

Hrgovic looked lost in there and was barely landing at all throughout. The round before Itauma punched himself out, Hrgovic had success...and again because Itauma was gassed out. If Itauma lowered the output and stuck to brief defensive bursts he would have won. All he needed to do was take 1-2 rounds off. His trainer should have explicitly told him to do so, especially as he was gassing since round 4 quite visibly. Ben is heavily to blame IMO. Hrgovic wouldn't have just been able to overwhelm Itauma if he decided to lower his output - Itauma is underrated defensively and Hrgovic stands upright with his chin in the air, so more aggression would have been a risky strategy to take on a unseen blow.

Hrgovic is relatively one dimensional, it's just he has a very very solid chin. He's also a notorious back of the head/rabbet puncher and got spanked by Zhang (who he robbed)

Itauma is young - he should focus on next 1-2 years on his stamina. Better defence and punch selection variety than most HWs currently. Hrgovic himself said he's never been in the ring with someone like Itauma.

Those hoping for downfall of a young 'hypejob' are pathetic middle aged men who want to see a shite HW division full of 37 year olds. It's a young man's sport.

I'm telling you all now, Itauma going to shock (+disappoint) you haters

 

Scoring live I scored rounds 3,5 & 6 for Hrgovic
Itauma did look the flasher in those rounds landing fast clean punches but I felt Hrgovic had those rounds watching live

 

Agreed, a snippet from a post I made earlier...

'As for Hrgo, I laugh at those saying he just 'outlasted' Ituama. He showed tremendous guile and a ring genralship that many seem to have missed. To steal a phrase from Usyk, he never left Moses alone. In all of the rounds he was losing he was the one dictating the pace, always 'just' close enough to force a reaction from Moses, always 'just' far enough away to take some of the sting out of what was coming back. His spatial awareness and mental crowding of Ituama was incredible to watch and has the desired effect. A more experienced fighter might have tied him up, not engaged, but Ituama seems to have a hard wired fault that is good to watch but proved his undoing. If he CAN hit something he WILL hit it.'

 

I normally have quite similar scorecards to you

I felt round 6 was a Hrgovic round
I was surprised more didn't see it that way