Frank Warren advises Moses Itauma on what he must do after Frank Hrgovic's defeat

Promoter Frank Warren has advised Moses Itauma to ring changes after Filip Hrgovic's defeat, saying, “there will be changes”.

Itauma made a brave move to step up for his first title fight at the age of 21 against a well-established heavyweight, Hrgovic, who is no stranger to long, tough bouts, having gone 12 rounds and fought world champions.

The Croatian boxer has lost only once and came via knockout against Daniel Dubois, but he has a successful record against the likes of Zhilei Zhang and is aware of what it takes to pace yourself for 12 rounds fight, which is where Itauma came unstuck.

Croatia’s Hrgovic produced a stunning comeback to defeat British heavyweight prodigy Itauma by technical knockout and claimed the vacant IBF world heavyweight title at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday.

The 34-year-old was outpointed through the opening eight rounds as Itauma’s speed and power appeared to be leading him towards another emphatic victory.

Speaking to talkSPORT Boxing, Warren said Itauma will learn a lot from this defeat and his camp need changes in future.

“He’s got to learn from that, and his corner’s got to learn, all of us. It’s all pretty raw at the moment and sore, so we’ll sit down and have a debrief,” Warren said.

“There’s gonna have to be some changes, and there will be some changes, but one thing about Moses is he’s an intelligent guy, he’s a nice kid, he’s got a very good brain on him, he will learn from this. It was all, at the end of the day, about him and fight management.”

Itauma entered the contest unbeaten with 12 knockouts from 14 professional fights and had never previously been past six rounds, and looked on course to add another stoppage to his record; however, Filip was too good for him.

Itauma was superb during the first eight rounds but began to tire after maintaining a relentless pace. Hrgovic capitalised in the ninth round, backing his younger opponent onto the ropes before unleashing a barrage of punches.

The referee stopped the contest after Itauma’s corner threw in the towel. The victory made Hrgovic Croatia’s first heavyweight world champion.