Tyson Fury makes damning $100m claim about Moses Itauma after shock Filip Hrgovic defeat

Tyson Fury believes that Moses Itauma made a major mistake in his IBF heavyweight title defeat against Filip Hrgovic and claims he saw it coming.

Itauma was stopped in the ninth round at the O2 Arena in London despite the judges' scorecards reading in his favour. After chasing a knockout win at the end of the eighth, the Brit ran out of steam and the referee called the fight as Hrgovic took advantage.

The 21-year-old went into the match with a perfect 14-0 record, 12 wins by knockout, and the vacant IBF belt on the line.

But he hadn't been beyond the fifth round of any fight for three years. His last six wins had the potential to go to 10 rounds but Jermaine Franklin was the only fighter to take him beyond the second round before Itauma finished him off in the fifth.

Hrgovic, much more experienced, was Itauma's first opponent in a 12-round fight. If the post-match consensus is any indication, that lack of ringcraft showed.

Fellow fighter Tyson Fury told journalist Gareth A Davies that it could prove a costly night.

"Everything is totally different," said Fury.

"So from my experience, I said to [promoter] Frank Warren, I said to everybody who would listen, too soon.

"I suppose when you’re trying to build somebody into a superstar and beat records and all that stuff.

"They put them in early and they made a mistake.

"And not only has it cost Moses the $100 million career, which I believe he was $100 billion dollar athlete."

Itauma has been building a fearsome reputation. His previous scalps include Dillian Whyte and Demsey McKean, both finished in the first round, but his only decision wins came against Kostiantyn Dovbyshchenko and Kevin Nicolas Espindola in 2023. They were six-round matches.

The Slovakian-born southpaw ended the night in hospital and Fury fears that bouncing back might be tougher than it sounds.

"If you go from not doing past four rounds, it’s jumping into a 12-round world title fight without winning anything along the way," added the Gypsy King.

"If you look at my career I won English, Irish, British, Commonwealth European.

"I did it the traditional route. And it’s done like that for a reason.

"I was 27 years old when I fought Wladimir Klitschko, I was a 10-1 underdog [but] I was ready. If I’d have fought him at 21, I’d have got knocked out too.

"When you get knocked out in your first try at something it takes a bit coming back from and you’ve got to show a real mentality and will and want to be a fighter after a performance like that when everything was going well for you."

Fury was speaking to Davies while training in Miami for a highly anticipated fight with compatriot Anthony Joshua.

The match is signed for this year but the camps are in dispute over the venue.

Warren, Fury's promoter, claimed that Joshua has been given a deadline of Friday September 4 to agree terms on a fight in the United States.