Which of these currently highly ranked boxers would have lost if they had been fighting Itauma instead of hrgovic? (Including build up)
I'm asking because I think that Itauma's boxing ability, power and speed are still competitive at top level even with his stamina and nerves, which he will hopefully improve. (Had to leave out some top guys that most would favor anyway because too few options are allowed)
It is very hard to say, he went from the ghost of Dillian Whyte to a bonafide top 5-10 heavyweight. Most of the guys you named would either beat him or it would be a 50/50. I voted for Okolie, Sanchez, and Huni having the worst chances against him. Anyone who can punch at all and not be useless after 6 rounds would have him in trouble...and of course deal with his early round strength - which is a tall order. AJ lasted that long with Dubois as bad as he looked, and managed to hurt him.... Itauma wouldn't have been able to recover like DuBois in that situation... and I don't see Itauma having the mentality and style to press how DuBois did either.
Maybe Fury could use all his skills and veteran moves to survive the early going but what's more likely I think is Itauma landing a big counter left at some point and finishing him before he gasses. Ruiz can take punishment but he is inactive and hasn't looked good in years. Probably gets stopped standing. Gassiev probably gets stopped unless he can time a great shot. Huni and Ajagba don't have the chins to survive. Huni might have a better chance because he's got solid defense but Ajagba is is way too slow. Makes Hrgovic look like Ali in terms of handspeed. Both probably get blasted out in around 5-6 rounds. Sanchez's legs look gone. He can't escape Itauma and isn't durable enough to take his shots. Okolie hasn't looked super impressive at heavy and got popped for PEDs iirc. Joshua's chin is shot. Jalolov is an interesting one, but he's predictable, hasn't stepped up in competition and didn't look great last time out so I'll just assume Itauma beats him. Surprisingly I think Wardley is the only guy that would've won. He's durable, tough mentally, hasn't got the greatest gas tank but can go late into fights. Not great defensively but harder to hit clean than Hrgovic. He also hits a lot harder and has scored come from behind KOs multiple times before. He may go down a few times more than Hrgovic did but he does tend to fight better when hurt. Probably puts a tired Itauma down in the 8th or 9th. Fight looks like a more brutal version of Wardley Vs Huni.
I'd favour him over everyone except Wardley and Ruiz funnily enough. Both have great chins, and Ruiz has enough hand speed to hold his own.
It's reasonable to favour Ituama agianst any of these. Fury and AJ are clearly past their best, AJ`s chin is cracked for good. Ruiz jr fights once per 2 years, is very fat and unmotivated. Wardley hits hard and is tough, but he's limited technically and took a brutal beating. Others aren't just good enough to compete vs Itauma. If anything, I'd give Jarrell Miller more chance to beat Moses than any fighter on this list. If Miller could absorb all those shots like Hrgovic did, he'd be able to put Itauma out late in the fight.
It's hard to say. As talented as he is and as good as he looked for much of the fight the other night Hrgovic was tailor-made for him to look good against, especially in the first half of the fight, and he made it much easier for him to look good by constantly pushing out his jab (and right hand) instead of snapping it out. Made it so simple for Moses to catch him with counters. None of those guys could take the punishment Hrgovic did sans possibly Fabio but some of them are massive punchers and we simply don't know if he can take elite HW power yet. Don't forget Hrgovic cracked Dubois with way more clean right hands than he did Moses but even Usyk knocked out Dubois x 2 and Fabio dropped him x 2. And contrary to the narratives being pushed even when he was fresh he looked uncomfortable when Hrgovic caught him clean and we saw him wincing from body shots too.