Moses Itauma Slaps Filip Hrgovic After Face-Off in Weight-In Stage
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Moses Itauma receives slap to the face after pushing Filip Hrgovic off weigh-in stage following tense final face-off; both fighters weigh in lighter than their previous fights; Itauma, 21, is aiming to become Britain's youngest heavyweight world champion on Saturday at the O2 Arena
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The Guardian SportBoxing 10pm Moses Itauma v Filip Hrgovic live The IBF belt relinquished by Oleksandr Usyk will be on the line in London and the 21-year-old Moses Itauma (14-0, 12 KOs) could become the second-youngest heavyweight champion of all time. Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic (20-1, 15KOs) will be the toughest challenge of Itauma’s fledgling career. There is plenty of expectation surrounding the British prospect, with Prince Naseem Hamed claiming Itauma is a “million times better” than Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury and could become the best of all time. Bryan Armen Graham hosts the big fight blog and Donald McRae reports from the O2 Arena.
BBC SportPublished Britain could have a new heavyweight world champion on Saturday when Moses Itauma faces Croatian Filip Hrgovic at London's O2 Arena for the vacant IBF title.
CBS SportsOn Saturday, the 21-year-old phenom will put his sublime skillset to the test in the toughest matchup he has faced to date when Itauma (14-0, 12 KOs) takes on 6-foot-6 Croatian slugger Filip Hrgovic (20-1, 15 KOs) for the vacant IBF title inside London's O2 Arena (2 p.m. ET, DAZN PPV).
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As Hrgovic turned to pose for photographs, Itauma shoved him in the back, sending the 34-year-old off the stage.
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Sky SportsAs Hrgovic then moved to the front of the stage to flex for the crowd, Itauma pushed him in the back and the Croatian stumbled forwards and off the podium, keeping his feet.
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Hrgovic then got back on stage and threw a slap at his British opponent's face as security stepped in.
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BBC SportHrgovic climbed back up, reached through security and slapped the Chatham fighter in the face before members of both teams became involved as security separated them.
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"I can see Itauma blowing him away early because he's so accurate but I can also see Hrgovic riding the storm and it becoming a more difficult fight in the second half for Itauma.
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CBS SportsOn Wednesday, Itauma said he was unaffected by Hrgovic's pre-fight words. "At the end of the day, talk is cheap," Itauma said. "It's just schoolboy banter. You have to keep rolling."
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"But Hrgovic has momentum and this is his chance for a world title and he will leave no stone unturned."
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CBS Sports"Obviously, the world title is an achievement and an accolade. That's a plus-one but my sole focus is Hrgovic. If I'm not going to beat Hrgovic, it doesn't matter about the world title or the money. My job is just to be victorious on fight night."
4 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 Sky Sports After taking to the scales - both fighters weighing in lighter than their previous respective bouts, with Itauma at 241.7lbs and Hrgovic at 236.2lbs - the boxers went face to face and were soon trading barbs.
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02 BBC Sport A victory would make the Chatham fighter the youngest heavyweight world champion since Mike Tyson in 1986.
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03 The Guardian Sport Saturday Football 8am-12pm (all times BST)Matchday live With another round of Premier League fixtures coming up and the imminent closure of the transfer window, Luke McLaughlin and Sarah Rendell will be keeping pace with all the day’s breaking news from around the grounds. Join our Matchday live community by sending your thoughts and queries to matchday.live@theguardian.com.
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04 CBS Sports In just over three years and 31 rounds completed as a professional boxer, Moses Itauma has looked like the future of the heavyweight division.
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Sources (4)
- cbssports
- guardian-sport
- bbc-sport
- skysports