I'm not saying with certainty that he will win, but he will look better than ever, the importance of this fight is huge and this will be the biggest fight of his career.
I think it's very hard to look good against someone like Itauma unless you manage to put it on him early.
Fight ain't made, yet. As things have gone, I think there is every chance Itauma takes a "different direction" and fights someone like Jared Anderson instead.
I'd prefer Hrgovic fight someone other than Itauma at this point. I've looked through the rankings, and the names that come to mind are Efe Ajagba and Jarrell Miller. I dare say they might be better suited for Filip. There's also Murat Gassiev and... Rico Verhoven. Oh yes, I'd love to see those rankings. Especially a fight with our "kickboxing flashback" would give us a lot of answers to the new dilemmas that have arisen since Usyk's weaker performance. I'd also watch a rematch with Dubois or a fight with Fabio Wardley. Itauma? Hrgovic should wait for his next fight against someone who can get something out of him to see if the youngster really has any flaws that could be a starting point. The youngster hasn't had any tough times so far, and we can assume he's a true gem offensively, at least. And now Filip, as the slower of the two and prone to cuts, could lose this fight in the ring without looking bad at all. Itauma just needs to land frequent blows, which is practically guaranteed, and he'll cut him. Nobody will be giving this future rising star a hard time, and they'll quickly stop the fight if Filip gets into trouble. I know a boxer has to be confident, but if I were Filip, I'd think this through carefully. They clearly want to use him as a springboard for the youngster, and since Filip still has some time left at 34, I'd try to play it as wisely as possible.
I actually wanted Kabayel as his opponent because I felt that he would be more stylistically suited to Hrgovic and with a possible victory Hrgovic would gain more. Itauma is an abnormally difficult opponent stylistically, but if it happens, we'll see.
Hrgovic won’t do it unless it’s a huge payday. Back when Ituama fought Whyte, they had also approached Chisora and Hrgovic. Chisora said no to something like $3mil. Hrgovic said he’d do it for $5mil. so he’s got a number at which he’d do it.
That's also mean they threat Itauma like future Star. That's not good info for Filip and his eventualy victory
Itauma puts him into sleep in 2. If this fight happens, Hrgović and his ridiculous hype train will be buried for good.
Itauma is fighting Huni i hear. His handlers are likely cautious about throwing him in with Hrgovic just yet.