Filip Hrgovic Sends Menacing Message to Moses Itauma Ahead of Title Fight

Filip Hrgovic is now hours away from the most important fight of his career - taking on the seemingly unbeatable Moses Itauma for the vacant IBF heavyweight title.

The towering Croatian has been an elite level heavyweight since he was an amateur, claiming a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic games and has been around the top-level as a professional for at least five years.

Hrgovic looked well on his way to a world title shot after three impressive victories against Zhilei Zhang, Dempsey McKean and Mark De Mori before being matched with Daniel Dubois, who was on the comeback train after losing to Oleksandr Usyk.

'El Animal' was more than likely ahead on the scorecards when the doctor stepped in and advised the referee to stop the fight, giving Dubois the interim IBF belt, and he would end up becoming the full champion later that year.

So a feeling of hard luck or perhaps poor timing is not unreasonable for Hrgovic, who has since beaten anyone who has been put in front of him, including Joe Joyce, David Adeleye, and Dave Allen.

Hrgovic ready to make history of his own

Everyone has been so enchanted by the potential history that could be made by Moses Itauma this weekend that most will not have noticed that Hrgovic is on the cusp of history for himself. If he is victorious, he will become the first heavyweight world champion from Croatia.

He is the most confident he has ever been and believes, with the best camp of his life behind him, he is ready to win the biggest fight of his life.

“This is the biggest fight of my life," Hrgovic explained at the final press conference. "We are headlining the O2 in London, it is probably the biggest fight of the year in the heavyweight division. It’s a great fight.”

“It's been my best training camp in the last 6 years. The last 6 years, I have some problem going on or some pain or some injury or illness or some personal problems, every time it was some mess before the fight.”

Mind games? Hrgovic doesn't think so

Hrgovic has been accused of attempting to implement psychological warfare to eke out an advantage over Itauma before fight night, speaking on his inexperience and youth mostly. The straight-talking Croatian denied those accusations, claiming he just says what he sees.

"I just tell you facts, I’m not playing any games, I just tell you what I’m thinking in the moment. I’m not so smart to play these mind games, I just tell you what I think," Hrgovic said.

"I think this kid is not mature enough. I think I’m the man, I’m a much better age, much more experienced, no mind games – god willing, I'll beat him, I’ll smash the kid on Saturday, I’ll send him back to high school.”

Despite the denial, it does seem as though Hrgovic is trying to make Itauma feel like he doesn't belong in the same ring as him - perhaps trying to make himself look even taller and even more intimidating once they are under the lights of the O2.

By saying Itauma is a child to him and that he will take him back to school, he is likely hoping for a mental edge in the early rounds and to stop Itauma from coming out fast, making him think twice about jumping on someone much bigger and more experienced.

Hrgovic will come into the fight as the underdog, but by no means should you write him off. He has a granite chin and throws one of the highest volumes of punches in the entire division - something Itauma will never have seen before.

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