Itauma vs Hrgovic: Date, fight time, undercard, ring walks, prediction and odds

Moses Itauma fights Filip Hrgovic in London this weekend as he looks to become boxing’s youngest world heavyweight champion since Mike Tyson .

The rapidly-ascending British southpaw star faces the biggest test of his career so far at the O2 Arena as he competes for the IBF title vacated when former undisputed king Oleksandr Usyk relinquished all of his belts earlier this summer in preparation for one “last dance”.

Victory over Hrgovic would see Chatham’s Itauma, who turns 22 in December, become the second current British heavyweight champion and youngest ever, with Daniel Dubois having claimed back the WBO belt with an incredible late knockout of Fabio Wardley in May.

He would be the second-youngest ever title-holder in the sport’s glamour division and youngest since a then 20-year-old Tyson dethroned WBC champion Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas in November 1986 with a second-round knockout en route to undisputed superstardom.

Cuba’s Frank Sanchez had been first in line for the IBF belt after knocking out Richard Torres Jr on the undercard of Usyk vs Rico Verhoeven in Egypt in May, but accepted a lucrative offer to step aside and is in line to face the winner of Itauma vs Hrgovic instead.

Widely seen as the future of the heavyweight division and one of boxing’s best rising talents and most destructive knockout artists, Itauma has won all 14 of his bouts since turning professional in 2023 - 12 by knockout.

He viciously knocked out Dillian Whyte in the first round in Riyadh last summer, before then dominating the durable Jermaine Franklin en route to a fifth-round stoppage in Manchester in March.

Head to head: Moses Itauma battles Filip Hrgovic in London for the vacant IBF heavyweight title PA He should face a sterner challenge against Croatian Hrgovic, who has only lost one of his 21 pro fights to date - an eighth-round stoppage by Dubois on the inaugural Queensberry vs Matchroom 5v5 card in Riyadh in 2024.

That contest was for the interim IBF title, with Dubois later upgraded to full champion status after Usyk relinquished the belt the first time around.

‘El Animal’, an Olympic bronze medallist in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, has 15 knockouts from 20 victories so far, including against the overmatched Dave Allen in Doncaster in May.

Hrgovic has also outpointed two more Brits in Joe Joyce and David Adeleye since being bested by Dubois, despite repeatedly suffering from awful cuts.

Moses Itauma vs Filip Hrgovic: Natural Born Thriller for the vacant IBF world heavyweight title takes place on Saturday August 29, 2026 at the O2 Arena in London.

Itauma and Hrgovic are expected to make their respective ring walks at around 10.30pm BST for Saturday night’s main event. That is 5:30pm ET and 2:30pm PT in the United States.

The main fight card begins at 7pm BST, 2pm ET and 11am PT, with a number of earlier undercard bouts on the afternoon schedule.