Having previously sparred Moses Itauma and lost to Filip Hrgovic, heavyweight veteran Joe Joyce has considered how their upcoming showdown might unfold.
The pair will collide at London’s O2 Arena this Saturday, with Itauma bidding to become the youngest world heavyweight champion since Mike Tyson dethroned Trevor Berbick in 1986.
Standing in his way of the vacant IBF title, however, is highly-rated contender Hrgovic, whose only professional defeat came against Daniel Dubois in 2024.
Back then, the Croatian had arguably built a slight lead before getting stopped on cuts in round eight, with Dubois subsequently scoring a fifth-round finish over Anthony Joshua.
Hrgovic is therefore expected to provide an acid test for Itauma, who comes off an emphatic fifth-round stoppage of Jermaine Franklin in March.
The winner of their contest must then face mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez, another top contender who could present Itauma with an even greater challenge.
As for the task at hand, though, Olympic silver medallist Joyce has told talkSPORT that he is backing his fellow Brit to emerge victorious.
“I think it’s a great test, because Hrgovic has been in the game [for a long time]. He’s still relatively young [34], he’s tough [and he’s] got a great coach, Abel Sanchez, who I’ve obviously worked with before.
“But I think Moses is on another level and beats him.”
Joyce sparred Itauma ahead of his first encounter with Zhilei Zhang, who defeated ‘The Juggernaut’ with a brutal sixth-round stoppage in 2023.
The Londoner then went on to face Hrgovic last year, suffering a unanimous decision loss after ‘El Animal’ was drafted in as a late replacement for Dillian Whyte.
