Dave Allen's Warning to Moses Itauma After Stretcher Exit vs Hrgovic

Moses Itauma walked into the O2 Arena unbeaten at 14-0 with 12 knockouts, a 21-year-old ranked sixth in the heavyweight division and heavily favored to strip the IBF belt from Filip Hrgovic. He left on a stretcher. Three weeks on, one British heavyweight who's been in exactly that position is warning that the damage may run deeper than a single loss on the record.

Dave Allen, speaking to talkSPORT Boxing, drew a straight line between Itauma's collapse and his own stretcher exit from the very same building. Allen was knocked out by David Price at the O2 back in 2019, and he says he was never the same man or fighter afterward. His message on Itauma was simple: that kind of night takes some coming back from.

The Fight That Flipped

For seven rounds, Itauma looked like everything the hype promised. Allen reckons the youngster was winning it seven rounds to one, the sort of dominance over a granite-chinned veteran like Hrgovic that almost nobody in the world can produce. Then it unraveled. By the midpoint Itauma was slowing, throwing at Hrgovic without denting him, and the tank ran dry.

In round nine 'El Animal' turned the tables and put the prospect down for good, ending Itauma's unbeaten run and becoming Croatia's first heavyweight world champion. Allen's read was that Itauma looked like a kid in there — a phenomenal talent, but one exposed by inexperience when the fight demanded it most.

What Happens Next

Itauma wasted no time asking for the rematch, but the queue works against him. Hrgovic looks set to be steered toward mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez first. Sanchez sits at #7 with a 26-1 (19 KO) ledger and is coming off a second-round knockout of Richard Torrez, so he's not a soft touch to fill time.

The wider question is whether Allen's grim forecast holds. Itauma is 21 and has finished 12 of his 14 wins inside the distance, most recently stopping Jermaine Franklin in five. History says elite prospects can rebuild from a first defeat. Allen's own story is the reminder that some fighters carry that kind of night with them long after the swelling goes down.