New Itauma/Hrgovic highlights sheds new light on vicious Hrgovic body shots

How the hell can people say that Filip didn't actually hit anything and it was just exhaustion... Maybe the footage will explain it to them a bit, because the clean shots Moses was taking down time and time again were painful to watch... Besides, you can see exactly when he started to wobble after which shots...
It wasn't just exhaustion... This was also a Croatian attacker who hit really hard and didn't even react when he got hit on the counter.

 

Exactly, how many times have we seen it over the years? Young flashy fighters with all the hype caught out by wily old pros who take the punishment early let them gas and then just steadily turn the screw in the later rounds with pressure, it maybe looks a bit crude to some but It’s methodical and a joy to watch for me
Similar in style to the Josh Kelly vs David Avanesyan fight

 

The kid over excerted himself to the point of exhaustion. Hrgovic to his credit took all he had to give then turned the screw on him. But Hrgovic wasnt actually all that effective at tiring Moses out outside of getting punched about the ring.

Pretty sure the gameplan would have been to take Moses to deep waters granted. By keeping him working. By making him work when he didnt want to work and putting it on him when Moses wanted a breather. Hrgovic done that at times but Moses ripped up Hrgovic,s gameplan by going on the offence at every opportunity and inturn made Hrgovic hesitant to actually carry it out.

The real reason they got joy was because the kid got greedy and punched himself out.

Hrgovic got the desired result of the gameplan tbf. But he got it by being beat up for 8 rounds relying on his chin to get him through as opposed to getting joy through the actual gameplan which would have been to weather the storm and tire out Moses by imposing himself on Moses steadily to tire him out. Although he did carry that last part out at times....it wasnt all that effective until the kid had over extended himself anyway.

Hrgovic deserves all the credit in the world for staying in there and getting the win. But i dont think it was really down to what Hrgovic got going as opposed to Moses actually handing Hrgovic what he actually wanted. In terms of credit tho does it really matter which way Hrgovic got it done. Just as much credit either way. It came down to could Hrgovic handle the onslaught or would he fold. In the end Hrgovic handled it and took the kid out. Just as much credit as any other way tbh.

No way Sanchez sent him out there to take the beating that he did as part of the gameplan. Hrgovic got the gameplan working through Moses putting himself in the position Hrgovic wanted by over extending himself thinking he could knock him out.

 

Shades of Ray Arcel combing his fighters' hair between rounds.

 

That was a nice, sneaky shot.

While Ituama did some nice work that round, that was a bad idea. There are some guys you do not get into a shootout with, even if you hit harder than they do. Hrgovic is one of them. A contest of who can take more pain, tank more damage, and keep dishing it out? Ituama should have known going into it that you don’t get into that situation with Hrgovic.

I’d say that was inexperience, but experienced guys do that too. Ray Mercer got Lennox Lewis to fight a war with him; why on earth would any sane boxer ever let themselves get into a toughness contest with Mercer? Evander Holyfield got a lot of guys to do it; same thing, why on earth would any sane boxer let that happen?

Go figure.

 

At the same time, Sanchez knew how tough his man was. The kind of plan they had works a lot better when your guy is super durable.

 

I’m not sure about that, I think that taking shots and dragging itauma into later rounds tired was only ever the realistic game plan, surely? They were never going to be able to outbox him, or avoid the shots because of the speed disadvantage, the only assets hgrovic possessed over itauma was solid chin and confidence of going the distance, I think the fight played out exactly how they planned

 

he was getting hit by everything moses tossed into the air, wtf kinda plan is that? he used what he had, against what he was up against, and with itaumas cooperation, it worked out this time. hrgovic is tough, and fights good enough to be top 10 in the world, him landing shots in a fight is not some unforeseen occurrence. but the difference in the quality of work was night and day. as was the difference in conditioning.
this fight didn't make an elite hrgovic, and it didn't make a washed out itauma.

 

That wasnt the plan.

The plan was never to take big punches to the chin and outlast him. Durable or not.

They didnt really get the plan going because Moses went on the offence every chance he got putting his punches together throwing big inturn slowly emptying his own gas tank more than Hrgovic getting the plan going. It didnt really matter because Hrgovic and Sanchez got to the exact point they wanted and Hrgovic done exactly what he set out to do. But it was more down to Moses over extending himself from the off as opposed to Hrgovic getting his plan working.

Hrgovic did do some of the plan in fairness but it wasnt nearly as effective as Moses punching himself out.

 

It definately didnt play out exactly as they planned. It would have been to defuse Moses work and getting on him straight after to keep him working to tire him out.

Use his size advantage to impose himself on Moses and get the jab going to disrupt Moses work Etc.

I dont think they expected Moses to come out against Hrgovic and throw the kitchen sink at him. Although Hrgovic did actually try to utilize the plan inbetween getting the kitchen sink at him it wasnt nearly as effective as Moses tiring himself out by trying to throw the kitchen sink at him.

If its any consolation i think if Moses had been more economical....i do think Hrgovic would have got the plan going better and would have drowned him regardless.

Moses badly needed more learning fights.

 

We miss a lot watching and commenting in real time, I’m sure Hrgovic was a lot busier than he seemed in the early rounds, the fight panned out the way it did after all so the reasons for that were clearly there whilst the focus was on Itauma’s speed and precision initially.

 

I think the plan always included baiting Itauma to throw a lot.

Gassing him out was always the play

 

But it is TRUE that Moses lost because he ran out of gas.
And a good part of it was how Hrgovic exploited it, & the body punches did not help his condition-but they were not so many or thrown so hard that this is not *far secondary* to the fact that Itauma was gassing VERY early.
Breathing hard, round 1.
Looking significantly tired, round 3.
Near gassing by I dunno 7 max.

Credit to Hrgovic does not obviate that he had such a big flaw to exploit.
And never training for 12 rounds-when many fighters do things even in this era such as 15 5 minute rounds...
And fighting at too fast a pace *for his conditioning* which they should have been aware of...

THESE are the biggest factors.
That even permitted H-man to win.