Filip Hrgovic vs Moses Itauma Preview August 29th, 2026
Croatia’s top heavyweight Filip Hrgovic is back in action this Saturday, August 29th when he takes on unbeaten prospect Moses Itauma of Slovakia for the vacant IBF Title. The 12-round tilt from London, England can be seen live in most nations on DAZN pay-per-view. Hrgovic last fought in May when he stopped Dave Allen in the third round for the vacant IBF Inter-Continental Belt. In his previous outing last August, Hrgovic beat David Adeleye via a wide 10-round unanimous decision in an entertaining bout to retain his WBO International Heavyweight Belt. He won the vacant WBO International Belt in his previous outing with a 10-round unanimous decision over Joe Joyce. Hrgovic was stopped by Daniel Dubois due to severe cuts in the eighth round in June, 2024 in a shot at the IBF Interim Title for the lone defeat on his pro record. Itauma will be taking a step up in class once again this Saturday. His last outing resulted in a fifth-round TKO over American veteran Jermaine Franklin in March. In Itauma’s previous fight last August he halted Dillian Whyte in just 119 seconds to win the vacant Commonwealth Title and retain the WBO Inter-Continental Belt.
Hrgovic vs Itauma Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Filip Hrgovic +483
- Moses Itauma -800
My Pick
The 34-year-old Hrgovic enters the ring with a fine mark of 20-1 with 15 Ko’s and has gone 105 rounds since making his pro debut in 2015. He measures 6-feet-6-inches tall with an 82-inch reach, which gives him a 1.5-inch height advantage and three-inch reach edge on Itauma. He has good power in his fists as 75 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage but he’s halted just three of his last seven opponents. Until beating Zhilei Zhang by a controversial 12-round unanimous decision in 2022, Hrgovic’s biggest wins were against the likes of Marko Radonjic, Rydell Booker, Pavel Sour, Tom Little, Sean Turner, Amir Mansour, Kevin Johnson, Gregory Corbin and Eric Molina.
The five opponents to go the distance with him so far have been Johnson over eight rounds in 2018; Turner over eight rounds the same year; Zhang over 12 rounds in 2022 and both Joe Joyce and David Adeleye last year. Hrgovic’s first 12 knockouts came within the first five rounds and he stopped Demsey McKean in the 12th and final round in 2023. Hrgovic stopped Mansour in the third round in 2018 to take the vacant WBC International Heavyweight Title and defended it three times. He then won the IBF International belt against Booker in 2020 and defended it twice.
Hrgovic enjoyed a fine amateur career and won a bronze medal as a super heavyweight at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He also reached the quarterfinals at the 2011, 2013 and 2015 World Amateur Championships and won the 2010 Youth World Championships as well as the 2015 European Championships. In addition, Hrgovic went 25-4 with 10 Ko’s in the World Series of Boxing from 2010 to 2015. His loss to Dubois was highly entertaining as they both landed numerous solid blows throughout the fight.
The southpaw Itauma fights out of England and is just 21 years old. He climbs through the ropes with a perfect mark of 14-0 with 12 Ko’s and has boxed just 31rounds since making his pro debut in January, 2023. Itauma, who is the brother of boxer Karol Itauma, was also reportedly unbeaten as an amateur as he went 24-0 with 11 Ko’s. He captured gold medals at the schoolboy, junior, Youth European and the Heavyweight Youth World levels.
Itauma stands just over 6-feet-4-inches tall with a 79-inch reach. When it comes to power, Itauma is at the elite level as his current knockout ratio clocks in at 85.7 per cent. Eight of his knockouts have come in the first round while three have been second-round stoppages and one came in the fifth stanza. The only two opponents who went the distance with him were Kevin Espindola and Kostiantyn Dovbyshchenko, who both went six rounds with him in consecutive bouts in April and July of 2023.
His second-round TKO over Ilja Mezencev was for the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Heavyweight Belt which he has defended four times and his victory over Dillian Whyte was also for the vacant Commonwealth Crown. Nine of his 14 opponents have had winning records with his most significant wins coming over Franklin, Whyte, Mike Balogun, Demsey McKean and Mariusz Wach. Itauma weighed in at 254 lbs against Mike Balogun in May 2025 and was down to 235.5 lbs against Whyte just three months later. He was back up to 242 lbs for Franklin in March.
Prediction…
Hrgovic is a proven heavyweight who is arguably still in his prime at the age of 34. Still, he’s 13 years older than the unproven Itauma. Hrgovic possesses good power and experience against proven foes but he lacks foot and head movement in the ring. He owns a solid chin but gets hit a bit too often due to his lack of mobility. Itauma has the edge in speed and mobility and possibly power. We’re not sure how good of a chin he has though as it hasn’t really been tested yet. This is a good step for Itauma as we don’t really know how good he is yet regardless of his spotless record. Hrgovic has a chance of winning only if Itauma’s punch resistance doesn’t match the rest of his skills and it’s certainly a possibility. And even if Hrgovic can handle Itauma’s power and goes the distance he’s not likely to win on points. A lot of questions should be answered in this fight. But considering it’s being held in the UK and Itauma is 13 years younger and a better overall boxer than Hrgovic, I’m expecting him to emerge with the belt even if it turns out he’s not everything he’s been built up to be.
Itauma is 13 years younger with better movement.
Play Itauma -800 @ BetOnline.ag
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Filip Hrgovic betting • Moses Ituama betting