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Moses Itauma would currently prefer Filip Hrgovic fight over Martin Bakole bout
Moses Itauma does not believe that a fight with Martin Bakole makes sense, stating that he would prefer a bout with Filip Hrgović.
Itauma is one of the rising stars of the heavyweight division, the 20-year-old bursting onto the scene with a 11-0 (9) record.
The Slovakia-born fighter returns to action after five months this weekend when he fights American Mike Balogun on the undercard of Taylor-Essuman, live on DAZN.
In recent weeks, Itauma’s promoter Frank Warren has linked the heavyweight to a fight with Bakole, 21-2-1 (16). But Itauma is not too keen on the match-up, sharing his belief that Bakole’s stock had dropped in recent months.
The Congolese fought Joseph Parker on short notice in February out in Riyadh, suffering a second-round knockout, before a lacklustre performance ended in a draw with Efe Ajagba at the start of this month.
Asked how he felt about potential future opponents by Queensberry Promotions’ media, Itauma replied: “Martin Bakole, not so much, Filip Hrgović, yes. The reason I say Martin Bakole no more is because Martin Bakole was a boogeyman, then he got knocked out by Joseph Parker and it’s brought him back a bit. Then he didn’t have the best performance against Efe Ajagba and that’s brought him back a little bit more”
Itauma went on to explain how he feels that Bakole would view a fight against him as a way of restoring his position in the heavyweight division.
“If I fight Martin Bakole,” he continued, “that could give him a reason to top him back up, when I don’t need to be that person. If he reclaims the person that he once was, the boogeyman of the division, then the fight with him would make sense. But why would you fight him on zero? You want him to rebuild himself.”
Croat fighter Hrgović himself had to prove his worth again after losing to Daniel Dubois in June of last year. In April, Hrgovic was a clear-cut winner over Joe Joyce, defeating the Brit in Manchester via a unanimous decision.
Itauma restarted: “Hrgović, it’s a different term. I think my team are keen to fight Hrgović, but they want to see me in a 10-round fight first.”
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