Filip Hrgović explains how he ended up in detention: “They stopped me and took my money, but I was lucky”

Filip Hrgović entered London’s O2 Arena as a heavy underdog and left after overwhelming Moses Itauma, a 13-years-younger British heavyweight widely regarded as a major future prospect. Bookmakers offered nine pounds for every pound wagered on the Croatian, but Hrgović survived the assault and stopped Itauma in the ninth round.

The Croatian fighter had spent weeks projecting confidence. He called Itauma a kid he would send back to high school and told him he would not see the “promised land,” just as God did not allow the biblical Moses to reach it. The article presents that psychological battle as part of Hrgović’s preparation for the fight.

Itauma lost control after Hrgović slapped him in response to a push from behind, the article says. He entered the ring intent on knocking out and humiliating the outspoken Croatian in front of his home crowd. His repeated attacks consumed his energy, and by the ninth round he was staggering and vulnerable to Hrgović’s finishing assault.

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We are a real working-class family. My grandfather worked construction in Germany for 30 years, my father had a job from the age of 18, and my mother studied physical education but devoted herself to the family and struggled greatly with five children.

The writer describes watching from near the ring and fearing that Hrgović might not withstand Itauma’s early pressure. A defeat, the article says, could have exposed him to ridicule from Itauma and from Croatian critics waiting to mock him online. Instead, Hrgović lived up to his nickname, El Animal.

The nickname came from Cuban trainer Pedro Diaz, who saw Hrgović’s physical ability during a training camp in Miami and called him a beast. Because Diaz was more comfortable in Spanish than English, the Spanish expression became Hrgović’s ring name. The article also begins tracing his boxing foundations to Leonard Pijet at Zagreb’s Leonardo Boxing Club, which Hrgović joined at 14 after trying basketball, swimming and wrestling.

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promised land