Where next for Moses Itauma? Filip Hrgovic's savage verdict has shattered the Mike Tyson hype as Britain's fallen prodigy begins his long road back, writes JEFF POWELL

The most alarming contribution to the inquest into the slaying of Moses came from the national hero of Croatia who was the real story of a Saturday night at the O2 which was dark for British boxing but dazzling to behold.

Filip Hrgovic said of our young Itauma: ‘No, I didn’t feel his power.’

That will be as devastating to the lad previously hailed as the next Mike Tyson as James Bond being told he is no longer attractive to women.

It will hurt even more than the punches which sent him reeling from domination to defeat and hospital on the evening he was supposed to become the second youngest world heavyweight champion of all time.

Power has been Moses Itauma’s middle name since he began felling giants like saplings. Suddenly, at 21, he is being likened to Samson who lost his mythological strength when he had a haircut.

Were there clues in how Hrgovic survived the first eight rounds of this IBF world title fight and countless punches, every one of which looked as if it would have knocked out a horse?

To suggest as much would be to downplay the superhuman heart and phenomenal resilience of chin with which Hrgovic realised his own lifelong ambition of global glory. Just in time at 34.

Nevertheless, Itauma could not finish him off. Which brings other factors into issue. It is concerning, also, that Britain’s young lion should gas out on the first time in his career he was required to go beyond six rounds. Trainer Ben Davison finds himself under inquisition as to whether presumption of another early KO left Moses short on stamina build-up. Or did he simply punch himself out?

Whatever the reason, it was worrying to see one so young that exhausted as he staggered to extinction as early as the ninth round. Certainly Hrgovic put into words what many of us felt. That he was beaten in a large part by experience. The new champion who had vowed to ‘smash the kid’s face and send him back to high school’ had this to say after he had done just that: ‘He is a tremendous talent but he boxed like an amateur and must learn to fight like a professional.

‘With more experience he would have known he was winning every round and what he should have done was box out the fight to a points decision behind his jab. Not keep trying to knock me out. Although I did know he would tire the longer the fight went.’

But no power in his punches? Of being dropped once, a flash knock-down in the second round, Hrgovic said: ‘I didn’t feel it. He is very fast and caught me off balance with a punch I didn’t see.’

And so it would come to pass that in the battle of their ages it was from the kid’s corner that the white towel came fluttering in. By then not to great surprise. As early as the fifth round Itauma was beginning to grimace at the physical demands being made of him and the heavy hits he, too, was taking. In the eighth he launched a desperate assault which Hrgovic not only rode out but also inflicted damage of his own.

To his credit Itauma prodded out some punches at the start of the ninth but looked more like a fish floundering out of water. Hrgovic speared him with what he called ‘strength which came from Jesus Christ’.

So what next for he who was hailed as the next Mike Tyson? Hrgovic’s advice: ‘Several easier fights to gain more experience and rebuild his confidence. And I do think that with his speed of hand he will become a world champion one day.’

Promoter Frank Warren sympathised: ‘A first defeat does take away that aura of invincibility and we will give Moses the time it takes to recover from that. He is still a very special talent.’

Meanwhile, heavyweight life goes on. Warren has announced October 17 at the O2 for a lip-smacking WBO world-title rematch of the thunderous Battle of Britain between champion Daniel Dubois and white-collar graduate Fabio Wardley. Hrgovic will make his first championship defence against Cuba’s mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez and makes a prediction when he says: ‘I want to go on to a title unification fight against Daniel.’

And may it please the lords of the ring that Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury get their act together in November, whether it be in London or New York.

It will be some while before Itauma rejoins the fray, from the back of the queue. He went home from hospital the morning after his downfall to begin recuperation from the battering and also a leg injured as he reeled against the ropes. 

The psychological wounds will take much longer to heal. Though it is not impossible. Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Lennox Lewis – to name but a few – all lost more than one fight and came back as champions.

But Moses Itauma the next Mike Tyson? Even as Filip Hrgovic goes home to a much-deserved hero’s welcome in Zagreb, one thing we do know for sure is that if the original Iron Mike had landed just one of the punches he took on Saturday night, he would have been knocked out.