A heavyweight fight between Britain’s Moses Itauma and Croatian Filip Hrgovic in London on August 29 will now be for the vacant IBF world title, organisers said on Tuesday.
The title was vacated by Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk in June.
“Moses Hrgovic just got bigger. IBF World heavyweight Championship on the line, a new king will be crowned in London on August 29,” Queensberry Promotions said on X.
Itauma, 21, has an unbeaten professional record with 12 knockouts in 14 wins. Hrgovic, 34 and a 2016 Olympic bronze medallist, has 20 wins and one defeat.
Promoter Frank Warren told the BBC that Cuban Frank Sanchez, the IBF’s top-ranked challenger, had agreed to step aside and face the winner of the Itauma v Hrgovic fight at the O2 Arena.
“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,” he said.
Warren said should Itauma beat Hrgovic and Sanchez there could then be an all-British double title battle in 2027 with WBO champion Daniel Dubois or challenger Fabio Wardley following a rematch between the two.
Russian Murat Gassiev is the WBA champion and Germany’s Agit Kabayel holds the WBC title.
