Хүнд жингийн ирээдүйтэй боксчин Мозес Итаума Хорватын тулаанч Филип Хрговичтой хийсэн тулаанд есдүгээр раундад ялагдал хүлээж, мэргэжлийн замналын анхны хожигдлоо авлаа.
Өдгөө 21 настай Мозес Итаумагийн хувьд энэхүү тулаан нь түүнийг дэлхийн аваргын төлөө өрсөлдөх чадвартай эсэхийг сорьсон чухал сорилт байв. Гэвч есдүгээр раундад 33 секунд дутуу байхад түүний дасгалжуулагч Бен Дэвисон рингэнд алчуур шидэж, тулааныг зогсоосон юм. Тулааны дараа Итаумаг ядарч туйлдсан, хөлний гэмтэлтэй байсан шалтгаанаар эмнэлэгт хүргэсэн бөгөөд хэдэн цагийн дараа эмнэлгээс гарчээ.
Промоутер Фрэнк Уоррены хэлснээр, Итаума энэ удаагийн тулаанд рингний туршлага дутсанаас гадна сэтгэл зүйн хувьд хүнд байдалд орсон байна. Хргович тулааны эхний үеүдэд Итаумагийн хурд, хүчээ тооцоололгүй зарцуулж, сонирхогчийн түвшинд тулалдаж буйг онцолсон юм. Итаума нь өмнөх 14 тулааныхаа ихэнхийг богино хугацаанд нокаутаар дуусгаж байсан туршлагатай ч энэ удаагийн ялагдал нь түүний бэлтгэл, тактикийн сул талыг илтгэлээ.
Фрэнк Уоррен өмнө нь Амир Хан, Дэвид Хэй, Дэниел Дюбуа нарын ялагдал болон дараагийн эргэн ирэлтийн түүхийг дурдаад, Итаумад дахин сэргэх боломж байгааг онцлов. Түүний хэлснээр, залуу боксчинд тулааны талбарт илүү туршлага хуримтлуулах, ялангуяа хүчээ зөв хуваарилах тал дээр анхаарах шаардлагатай байна. Итаумагийн хувьд энэ нь карьерынхаа туршид авсан хамгийн том сургамж болсон бөгөөд дахин рингэнд гарах хүртэл тодорхой хугацаанд амарч, сэтгэл зүйгээ бэлдэх төлөвтэй байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
It was a night designed for Moses Itauma to shine. But in the end, it was one that illuminated the gaping holes in the 21-year-old’s professional boxing CV.
In Itauma’s 14 fights before Saturday night’s dramatic ninth-round loss to Croatian heavyweight Filip Hrgović, he had only twice fought beyond the fifth round, and those bouts came three years ago. In the time since, he has knocked all except one of his opponents out in one or two rounds, the exception being durable American Jermaine Franklin — a man who had not been stopped once in his 26 previous fights.
Itauma knocked him out cold midway through the fifth round of their fight in March; a vicious right hand leaving Franklin crashing face-first into the canvas.
All of which had left Itauma heralded as the man to fill the sizeable void that will be left when Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua take their millions and run.
The fight promotion referred to him simply as “Moses”. His face has adorned the side of London buses. He has a Nike clothing collection in his name, and the entire build-up to Saturday’s fight was framed around the invitation to “witness history”. That could have been a reference to the fact victory would make Hrgović, 34, his country’s first ever heavyweight world champion, but it was more likely a nod to Itauma’s opportunity to become the youngest heavyweight to win a world title since Mike Tyson.
Yet, with 33 seconds remaining in the ninth round, Itauma’s trainer Ben Davison threw the towel in and the air was sucked out of all that bluster. The noise around Itauma briefly silenced. As he was carried out of the ring on a stretcher, taken to hospital for checks — drained, exhausted and nursing a leg injury according to his promoter Frank Warren (he was released a few hours later and back home with his family) — the questions started.
Was it simply too much too soon? Did he employ the wrong game plan? Is he even that good? Does he have what it takes to be a world champion? Can he come back from a defeat that has exposed, in the most painful way possible, the weak spots in his armour?
Moses Itauma contemplates his defeat beside trainer Ben Davison (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Less than an hour after those dramatic scenes, Warren addressed the media in a windowless room deep in the bowels of the O2 arena and admitted it was too early to know the answer to that final question.
“Mentally he’s going to be completely down,” said Warren. “So we’ll have to talk to him and lift him. He’ll take some time out, have a break. It’s not even the time to talk about it with him. It’s something we’ll probably do in maybe two weeks or even a month’s time, to see where we go with it.”
The 74-year-old promoter has seen this story play out before.
He referenced Amir Khan’s 54-second knockout at the hands of Colombian Breidis Prescott in 2008, when he too was 21 and heralded as British boxing’s great hope after winning an Olympic silver medal in 2004. Less than a year later, Khan had won his first world title.
Even more relevant is the experience of David Haye who, in his 11th pro fight, took on 40-year-old Carl Thompson, the former WBO champion. Haye was 23 and had a reputation for knocking out his opponents quickly, with five first-round stoppages in his 10 fights before taking on Thompson.
In a similar fashion to Itauma’s bout against Hrgović, Haye started fast, dominating the early rounds with his speed and explosiveness. But Thompson dug his toes into the canvas and endured the onslaught. Haye had never been past the fourth round before and quickly began to tire, allowing Thompson to capitalise and knock him down in the fifth. Soon after, Haye’s corner threw in the towel, signalling his first defeat as a professional.
The Brit, who went on to unify the cruiserweight division and win a heavyweight world title, has always spoken of the defeat as a turning point in his career — one that taught him valuable lessons about pacing and overconfidence.“He was written off completely (after that),” said Warren of the Thompson defeat in the early hours of Sunday morning.
“You find out the caliber of a guy, and you learn from it, and hopefully he’ll learn,” he added, referring to Itauma. “He will have to want to do it, which I’m sure he will.”
Moses Itauma swings a left during his loss to Filip Hrgović (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
More recently, Warren has had to help Daniel Dubois rebuild after his loss to Joe Joyce in 2020 — a damaging defeat that led many to question the British heavyweight’s courage and desire after he took a knee in the 10th round. It later emerged that Dubois had suffered a broken orbital bone and nerve damage around his left eye, but, for some, that didn’t matter. He was labelled a “quitter”.
Dubois rebuilt and is now a two-time heavyweight world champion. Itauma must now embark on a similar journey.
The defeat will be painful, probably more emotionally than physically. But away from the heat and emotion of fight night, Itauma can take heart from the fact that, for the majority of the fight, he was the dominant man. Hrgović even admitted afterwards he had barely won a single round.
“I didn’t know he was so good,” said the Croatian afterwards, the cuts and bruising above his eyes backing up his point. “Honestly, I’ve never been in the ring with someone like him.”
Filip Hrgović sporting the wounds of battle after his win (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
What Itauma is missing, added the new IBF world champion, is experience. “I saw from the first round that he was breathing hard, throwing too hard,” he said. “Fighting like an amateur.”
In the build up to the fight, Itauma questioned Hrgović’s pride at having a “good chin”, suggesting the best boxers shouldn’t get caught enough to need such a thing. It was, perhaps, a sign of his naivety and a result of not having had his own really tested in his 14 fights so far. In the end, it was exactly that asset that enabled the more experienced man to absorb the rapid-fire shots to the head and body that Itauma threw his way for the first six rounds.
Every one that Itauma threw sapped his energy. Every one that Hrgović stood up to only strengthened his resolve and confidence.
Itauma never stopped throwing, though. Even in the ninth round, when his arms and legs were drained and he could barely support his own weight, he was still trying to land heavy shots on his opponent. There was no hiding, no holding. While it might have aided his survival to do those things, boxing rewards and respects the courage of those fighters who never stop trying. “I’m sure he’s a fighting man,” said Warren when asked if he had concerns over whether Itauma could, or would, come back from this defeat. “He showed that right to the end.”
The word Warren used most often to describe what he’d seen was “composure”. Itauma, he said, had lost his, and that’s what had led to him injecting so much venom into every shot that his energy stores depleted so dramatically.
Frank Warren speaks after Moses Itauma’s defeat (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Arguably, Itauma lost that at the weigh-in a day earlier when he pushed Hrgović off the stage after an intense face-off. The usually cool youngster had clearly been riled by his opponent’s words as they stood millimeters apart, and perhaps it was that feeling that carried over into fight night and contributed to his undoing.
“More ringcraft” is what Warren suggested Itauma needs. “And he needs to stop thinking he’s got to knock everyone out, though he’s capable of doing that.”
The rebuild will start as soon as Itauma is ready. At 21, he has plenty of time on his side (Dubois was 23 when he lost to Joyce). And his talent is unquestionable.But mentality is the biggest factor now.
“Everybody’s different,” said Warren when asked how long it might take him to recover from such a defeat. “Daniel (Dubois) was called a quitter and he showed in fights that he certainly wasn’t that. It’s all the mindset.But that aura of invincibility at the moment is gone.”
Without that — without the belief that he can send every opponent crashing to the canvas within a few rounds — Itauma must rediscover who he is as a fighter. He must find the balance between managing his energy, preserving his power, and utilising it when the time is right.
The narrative when he does return will be simple: take Itauma past five rounds and he’s a weakened man. Dismantling that will likely take time.
In Itauma’s favour is that he has now experienced being in crisis. He knows he has the courage to deal with it; the wisdom and physical attributes that can help him avoid reaching that point again will surely come.
“I think he’s still one of the most unbelievable talents that I’ve ever been involved with in my time in boxing,” added Warren. “We’re with him and we’ll stick with him.”
