Filip Hrgovic: 'Moses Itauma is in my contract for my next fight'

Filip Hrgovic may have Dave Allen already locked in as his next opponent, but he is more than happy to face Moses Itauma later this year.

The Croatian heavyweight will take on Allen in Doncaster, England on May 16 in what is seen by many as a straightforward win for Hrgovic. Allen has mixed it with some top operators in his career, most recently against Arslanbek Makhmudov in October, but is yet to pick up a win at the world-level. A contest that on paper would be more competitive is one between Hrgovic and the division’s rising star Itauma.

The 21-year-old was quick to call Hrgovic’s name after dismantling the usually durable Jermaine Franklin inside five rounds last Saturday. “I wanted the [Filip] Hrgovic fight [next],," he said when asked who's next, "but he’s boxing Dave Allen.”

“I'll fight him anytime,” Hrgovic told BoxingScene in response. “He's in my contract as one of the names for the next fight, if this goes well. So maybe I'll fight him later in the year, but we'll see, I'll fight him, definitely. Good [performance], but Franklin was in bad shape and he didn't fight back. I think Moses, he's got good skills, but he was never in trouble, so I think we still don't know how good he is.”

Despite Itauma’s impressive showing against Franklin, there are still question marks over the promising heavyweight. Despite taking a couple blows last Saturday, he is yet to be hit on the chin by a real puncher in division, and we still do not know how Itauma will fare in the later rounds.

“I think you can't build a chin, you can't build a character, you can't build a spirit, you have it or you don't have it,” said Hrgovic. “So we'll see if he is a real warrior when he gets hit, when he gets dropped, we'll see if he's a real deal or not, but he definitely has skills.

“I think he’s never received a punch in his whole career, he never fought a guy who fought back, so we'll see how his endurance is, how his chin is. I think I can definitely give him a hard fight. So we'll see, maybe he's the next great, like the next Lennox Lewis or something, but maybe he's the next Jared Anderson.”