Moses Itauma vs Filip Hrgovic will now be for world heavyweight title: “This is a big moment for him”

The stakes have been raised in the Moses Itauma vs. Filip Hrgovic fight after a world heavyweight title was added to the contest.

Itauma and Hrgovic will meet at The O2 Arena in London on August 29, in a bout that was already set to have big implications for the division.

After Oleksandr Usyk vacated his unified titles earlier this summer, there has been plenty of movement, with Agit Kabayel upgraded to WBC champion, Murat Gassiev now the WBA champion, while Daniel Dubois remains WBO champion.

The one remaining vacant title was the IBF strap, but that won’t be the case any longer after it was revealed that the belt will now be on the line between Itauma and Hrgovic, and Warren has told BBC Sport about how big an opportunity this is in Itauma’s career.

“A lot of people have high expectations of him as I have, by the way. We signed him when he was 16. He was an amateur. We sponsored him and he turned professional with us. And he’s been amazing and sort of taken the world by storm.

“This is a big moment for him. But I’m confident he can do it.”

Itauma had originally been ordered to have a final eliminator with Frank Sanchez for the vacant belt, and Warren also revealed that they have paid the Cuban some step-aside money in order to allow this month’s bout to be contested for the title instead.

“We paid [Sanchez] some money. We said whoever wins the fight, you’re not losing out and you’ll get the opportunity to fight for the title against the winner.”

At just 21-years-old, Itauma would become the second youngest world heavyweight champion in history if he is successful against Hrgovic later this month.