Stevenson and Bellew laud Itauma's potential despite Hrgovic loss

Itauma made a fast start at London's O2 Arena and controlled large parts of the contest for the vacant IBF title, but eventually ran out of steam and was stopped by Hrgovic in round nine.

The Briton's speed and power caught the eye early in the bout but once he broke new ground - going beyond the sixth round for the first time in his career - the wheels began to come off.

Hrgovic was outpunched in every round until the decisive ninth when he seized his moment to become Croatia's first heavyweight world champion.

BBC Radio 5 Live's coverage of the night ended with Richie Woodhall, Ronald McIntosh and Steve Bunce offering up one word each to describe the night.

"Unbelievable," added commentator McIntosh, while Bunce signed off with "unforgettable".

Many expected Itauma, who stepped into the ring with a perfect record of 14 wins as a professional, to be coronated as the next British heavyweight star - although Hrgovic was rightly touted as his biggest test to date.

Aged 21, Itauma was seeking to become the second-youngest heavyweight world champion of all-time and Britain's second-youngest world champion.

But lack of experience against a seasoned Hrgovic proved Itauma's undoing.

Hype around Itauma has been building since winning his pro debut in just 23 seconds in January 2023.

A string of highlight knockouts - winning 12 of his previous 14 bouts inside six rounds - had propelled the Chatham fighter to world-title level in quick fashion.

Despite coming up short against 34-year-old Hrgovic, he is still being tipped to reach the pinnacle of boxing's glamour division.

"Unbelievable talent and skills," four-weight world champion Stevenson wrote on X.

"He's young and will be a champion one day if he learns from that. He throws every punch at 100mph and that can be a gift and a curse, Especially in the heavyweights division!"

Fellow Briton Tony Bellew, who was a cruiserweight world champion but ended his career at heavyweight, was also keen to focus on the positives.

"Moses Itauma will be world champion! He will learn so much from tonight," Bellew posted on X.

"The biggest thing I'll take from tonight is just how brave and tough Moses was, we knew Filip was super tough. Tonight we learned Moses is also tough, once he learns to pace a 12-round bout, he's gonna rule for a while! Filip Hrgovic's chin needs to studied."

Trainer Ben Davison almost threw in the towel early in the ninth round as Itauma staggered around the ring, but he had second thoughts.

It was only moments later that the towel did come in as referee Howard Foster had stepped in to wave off the contest with Itauma unable to stand without the ropes to aid him.