Boxing

Old-school Moses keeps low-key focus amid Hrgovic swagger

DAZN

27, Aug

Old-school Moses keeps low-key focus amid Hrgovic swagger

Moses vs Hrgovic: Watch on DAZN PPV - Saturday

LONDON — It's lunchtime on a rain-splattered Thursday afternoon, and queues are already snaking towards the Millennium Dome from North Greenwich underground station.

Massive billboards plastered with the face of Moses Itauma and the logline WITNESS HISTORY are beamed across the plaza outside the monolithic superstructure.

A gaggle of teenage girls blink twice as it flickers past them on a bus. Two ask who the man on the poster is. The third member of their party offers an answer - kind of.

"I think he's some kind of boxer?" she ventures hesitantly, then nods more firmly in her conviction. "Yeah, he's definitely some kind of boxer. I guess he's a big deal."

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BUY NOW: Watch Moses vs. Hrgovic exclusively on DAZN PPV & Ultimate Tier

Ariana Grande fans and heavyweight aficionados are not natural bedfellows. But this week, London's The O2 Arena will pass the torch between them, at least briefly.

The American pop hero will take a two-night break before closing out The Eternal Sunshine Tour - just long enough for boxing's biggest rising star to borrow her stage.

On Saturday evening, Moses will step into the ring for the biggest fight of his career against Filip Hrgovic, with the vacant IBF championship on the line for both men.

It is a top-tier tussle that the latter's manager Keith Connolly has tipped to be swift and brutal - a modern-day Hagler-Hearns for the TikTok generation and beyond.

Yet amid all the talk that the Briton can help usher in a blue-riband sea change, there is something strikingly analogue about Moses, a shark out of temporal water.

It is those old-fashioned qualities that further belies his youth - and may see him best-equipped to bridge the past, present and future of the division with victory here.

Soft-spoken assurance alluringly anachronistic

Studio 338 may have a proud reputation in the electronica scene, but it is a less-than-auspicious destination for media engagements amid late-August downpours.

After a summer of drought, storms are finally starting to roll their way across the south-east of the country again - and not just those ready to erupt on canvas too.

Beneath its terraced balconies and arched-glass ceiling, Moses and Hrgovic sit a man apart, split by George Warren, and two days out from their date with destiny.

The former, dressed in his own team-brand black-tee, frequently keeps his gaze rooted to a singular spot - the table, the microphone, or moderator Adam Smith.

By contrast, his rival feels comparatively peacocked - shirt unbuttoned to the waist, gold necklace hung loose, fingers rat-a-tat as they drum against his water bottle.

Moses Itauma August 2026 Queensberry

It is interesting to watch these two men engage the way they do. Plenty of boxing's biggest characters have loved these moments, the chance to revel in the theatre.

Even those more nominally drawn to business - think Oleksandr Usyk - still enjoy the opportunity to play with absurdity, to bait and switch friend, foe and press alike.

Moses does not. His patience - or perhaps lack thereof - for the processional nature of these affairs - has percolated as part of his reputation over the past few years.

But that does a disservice to the measured way in which he considers matters - a star who is increasingly articulate in the way he examines and explores the sport.

Perhaps tact will change if - when - he earns his title stripes. But that soft-spoken assurance feels fascinatingly, alluringly anachronistic amid foes ready to fire shots.

Rival relishes moment with sheer bravado

Not that Moses stays holstered completely. Hrgovic - a veteran pro who would be the division's oldest active champion if he prevails - has sought to get under his skin.

There's the slightest chink in his armour, having dimissed the Croatian's remarks as "schoolboy banter", when the latter cuts across Francis Warren's remarks on fitness.

But it is a fleeting moment, encapsulated by one reply: "It’s the same script, different story. What I say doesn’t mean much. What I do on Saturday night is what matters."

For Hrgovic, the job will be to flip the script. All week long, the 34-year-old has talked up the merits of his latest camp, his fitness, his thoughts on his rival's speedy rise.

This is a man who has lost just once in the professional ranks, who arguably could have won that bout were it not for medical intervnetion after a couple of nasty cuts.

Filip Hrgovic August 2026 Queensberry

That confidence is far from misplaced. It is intriguing however in the manner with which the star has flaunted it compared to, say, his last bout with Dave Allen in May.

Of course, that was a diversion from the real deal, a favour to keep fit and help 'The White Rhino' achieve his dream of a stadium homecoming in his native Doncaster.

Here, the pressure is tenfold. Even as the outsider, the task ahead of Hrgovic is his biggest for years, the type of bout that can so often trigger a fight-or-flight response.

For now, he is firmly in fight mode, leaning into the moment. Long after his foe has left following a tense face-off, he remains encircled by the press, oozing sheer swagger.

It is showmanship that will generate clicks. But both men must still deliver with their fists come showtime - and for now, it appears Moses may do so with old-school style.