Chisora Warns Itauma: Hrgovic Fight Is No One-Way Traffic at the O2

Moses Itauma steps into the O2 Arena tonight with a chance to make history: at 21, a win over Filip Hrgovic for the vacant IBF belt would make him the youngest heavyweight world champion since Mike Tyson took Trevor Berbick apart in 1986. He carries a spotless 14-0 record, 12 of those wins by stoppage, and a professional-plus-amateur career in which he's barely been touched clean. The bookmakers have him as a heavy favourite. Derek Chisora isn't so sure.

Chisora, a 50-fight veteran himself at 36-14 (23 KO), told The Sun Sport that this is no one-way fight — he expects both men in shape and reckons they'll be dragged somewhere neither has ever been. He wouldn't pick a winner. Coming from a man who's shared a ring with most of the division's names over the past decade, that hesitation carries weight.

Hrgovic's Case

The Croatian is 34 and battle-tested in a way Itauma simply isn't yet. His lone defeat came against Daniel Dubois in 2024, and even that was a competitive night — Hrgovic was landing and having success before cuts over both eyes forced a stoppage in the eighth. Dubois, now WBO champion at 23-3 (22 KO) after his TKO11 win over Fabio Wardley, is a serious yardstick. Hrgovic also arguably beat Zhilei Zhang back in 2022, a decision plenty thought went the wrong way.

That's the pitch Chisora is buying: experience against unknowns. Itauma has looked devastating, but he's never faced a heavyweight built like Hrgovic — a big, awkward, durable operator who's been in deep water and swum out of it. The pace and the resistance tonight will be a different examination than a TKO5 over Jermaine Franklin.

The Bigger Puzzle

Here's the twist that makes the pick even trickier. Whoever wins doesn't get to breathe — mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez is waiting. 'The Cuban Flash' is 26-1 (19 KO) and coming off a chilling second-round demolition of Richard Torrez Jr in May, and a growing chorus already rates him a nastier problem for Itauma than Hrgovic is.

So the O2 tonight is really the first door in a two-door problem. Itauma can win the belt and still walk straight into arguably his toughest test at #7-ranked Sanchez. If Chisora's right and this one's a war, the prospect's coronation could come at a cost he can't afford before the Cuban comes calling.