Filip Hrgovic ripped up the script and shattered Moses Itauma’s world-title dream as the Briton appeared to punch himself out in an extraordinary heavyweight contest in London.
Itauma, 21, managed most of the battle and scored a second-round knockdown but light as his relentless output caught up with him.
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Hrgovic weathered the storm and piled on the strain in the ninth. With Itauma barely in a position to stand, his legs unsteady and physique swaying before slumping in the nook, his crew threw in the towel.
Itauma – who needed medical consideration before leaving the enviornment on a stretcher – had been a heavy favorite after tearing through his first 14 opponents and was spoken about as heavyweight boxing’s next celebrity.
“He is the best I have been in the ring with, but he needs more experience. I knew I was losing the round, but I knew that I had the pace in my favour. He needs more experience, but he is one of a kind,” Hrgovic said.
“From the first round, I saw his gassing out. He started fast. I knew he was going to gas out. I knew when my chance came I needed to push. That is what I did.”
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With the vacant IBF title on the line, victory would have made Itauma the second-youngest world champion in the division’s historical past.
Instead, his inexperience started to show as his Croatian opponent – an Olympic bronze medallist whose only earlier skilled defeat came against Daniel Dubois – survived everything Itauma threw at him before finishing a exceptional turnaround.
Hrgovic’s exceptional turnaround as Itauma reveals inexperience
Filip Hrgovic is the first heavyweight world champion from Croatia [Getty Images]
Hrgovic – sporting the purple and white checks of his nation – made his entrance first to a wall of boos, before the temper inside the O2 Arena flipped as Itauma emerged to a large roar – taking his time and soaking up the reception.
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The crowd had made its allegiances clear after a fiery build-up which included Itauma shoving Hrgovic, the Zagreb man slapping him back and a lot of verbal sparring.
Itauma came out with actual intent, touchdown straight lefts from his southpaw stance. Hrgovic is identified for his sturdiness but struggled to keep tempo with the Briton’s pace early on.
Early in the second, a proper hook knocked Hrgovic off-balance and his glove touched the canvas. Oasis star Noel Gallagher and boxing legend Prince Naseem Hamed were among those watching as the crowd gasped at virtually every Itauma punch, whether it landed or not.
But by the finish of the third, Itauma – who had boxed just 26 skilled rounds before his first world-title battle – was already respiration closely.
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There had also been questions over his chin, merely because it had never actually been examined. Hrgovic started touchdown the occasional heavy shot but Itauma took them properly and fired straight back.
A battle in the crowd momentarily took consideration away from the motion in the fifth before an Itauma uppercut in the closing seconds introduced the focus back to the ring.
Itauma continued to fire mixtures but Hrgovic was barely budging. An enormous proper landed on the bell in the sixth and another adopted in the seventh, yet the Croatian merely walked through them.
The Briton was properly forward but, rather than box his manner towards victory, he continued to chase the knockout. A flurry in the eighth backed Hrgovic on to the ropes and had him in bother, but Itauma was grimacing between exchanges and wanting more and more spent.
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By now the hazard was clear. Hrgovic came out with renewed objective in the ninth and landed a thudding proper which despatched Itauma staggering backwards, virtually through the ropes.
The teenager someway stayed upright but his legs had gone. Hrgovic continued to press and when Itauma slumped into his nook, exhausted and barely in a position to defend himself, referee Howard Foster waved off the contest as the towel came in.
Hrgovic crashes the celebration – what next for Itauma?
Moses Itauma had stopped 12 of his earlier 14 opponents [Getty Images]
Hrgovic admitted he had been “outboxed” but leaves London as Croatia’s first heavyweight world champion, with Frank Sanchez ready as the IBF obligatory challenger.
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A unification battle could comply with, with Daniel Dubois holding the WBO title and set to face Fabio Wardley again in October.
For Itauma, this was supposed to be a coronation.
Instead, he leaves the O2 Arena with questions over whether the step up came too soon.
He has time to rebuild and there will be a sturdy feeling that, with a little more expertise, this night time could have ended very in a different way.
Londoner Dubois was stopped by Joe Joyce as an unbeaten 23-year-old before going on to become a two-time world champion. Itauma has even more time on his facet.
“He’s an amazing fighter,” Hrgovic said. “I am the present. He is definitely the future.”
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Promoter Frank Warren prompt Itauma was carrying a leg damage in the last spherical but backed him to return.
“Moses gave everything,” he added. “He has to go back to the drawing board and he can come again.”
The expectation around Itauma will not disappear totally in a single day but the aura of invincibility has gone.
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