MOSES ITAUMA AND FILIP HRGOVIC TO FIGHT FOR VACANT IBF TITLE, FRANK SANCHEZ PAID TO STEP ASIDE

Moses Itauma and Filip Hrgovic square up on June 22, 2026

Moses Itauma and Filip Hrgovic, set to collide on August 29 at London, England’s O2 Arena, will now be fighting for the vacant IBF heavyweight title.

No. 3-ranked Itauma, 14-0 (12 KOs), had been ordered by the sanctioning body to face leading IBF contender, Frank Sanchez, after the bout with Hrgovic had already been signed and announced. And with the Croatian rated fourth by the organization, it has been agreed that they can instead do battle for the belt on the condition that the winner meets Sanchez in their first defense.

“We paid [Sanchez] some money,” promoter Frank Warren told the BBC. “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.”

The 34-year-old Cuban, 26-1 (19 KOs), had achieved mandatory status with the IBF by knocking out Richard Torrez Jnr in two rounds in May.

Hrgovic, 20-1 (15 KOs), is riding a three-fight win streak – beating Joe Joyce, David Adeleye and Dave Allen – and is regarded as 21-year-old Itauma’s toughest test to date.

Presuming Itauma-Hrgovic isn’t a draw, it means that Warren’s Queensberry Promotions – who handle both Itauma and Hrgovic, as well as WBC boss Agit Kabayel and WBO beltholder Daniel Dubois – will promote three of the four heavyweight beltholders come the end of the month. The WBA titlist, Murat Gassiev, had previously been expected to face Itauma later in the year.

"A lot of people have high expectations of [Itauma] as I have, by the way," Warren said. "We signed him when he was 16. He was an amateur. We sponsored him, and he turned professional with us.

"And he's been amazing and sort of taken the world by storm.”

The influx of heavyweight beltholders can of course be explained by Oleksandr Usyk’s decision to relinquish his three titles in June. Though the 39-year-old is plotting one last fight – likely against Deontay Wilder – the Ukrainian’s days of fighting elite opposition are over, it seems.

Kabayel and Gassiev saw their statuses rise by virtue of Usyk’s decision to step down. Dubois defeated Fabio Wardley to claim his belt after Wardley was handed the championship when Usyk gave up the WBO title last year.

The winner of Itauma-Hrgovic will be the first to claim one of Usyk’s old belts in the ring.

- BoxingScene 

ZHILEI ZHANG FINISHES DEONTAY WILDER IN 5TH--ROUND TKO

Zhilei Zhang scored a fifth-round TKO win over Deontay Wilder, who said before the fight that a loss could mean "the final goodbye." Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images

 Zhilei Zhang scored the biggest win of his career Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and might have effectively ended former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder's run in the process.

China's Zhang, 41, connected with a perfectly timed counter right hook that spun Wilder in a daze. With Wilder defenseless, Zhang (27-2-1, 21 KOs) sprinted in and smashed him with another right hand that planted the American hard on the canvas.

Wilder, 38, somehow was on his feet before the count of 10, but his legs were unsteady and the referee wisely waved off the fight at 1:51 of Round 5.

"I blocked a few punches, but hell yeah, he punches hard," Zhang, speaking through an interpreter, said of Wilder (43-4-1, 42 KOs), who is regarded as one of the most powerful punchers in heavyweight history.

"I give him a lot of respect. He's a heavy puncher. ... I successfully took his right hand away."

Wilder has lost four of his past five fights, including a decision defeat to Joseph Parker in December along with a pair of losses to Tyson Fury in their heavyweight championship trilogy. Wilder said before the fight that if he lost, "this could be the final goodbye, the farewell of Deontay Wilder."

Zhang, too, was reeling from a decision defeat to Parker, the former heavyweight titleholder. Zhang floored Parker twice in March but still lost on the cards.

Now, he is back on what he called the "road to the champion." That's currently Oleksandr Usyk, who defeated Fury last month in Riyadh for the undisputed championship.

Zhang closed as the -150 favorite against Wilder, according to ESPN BET. He is ESPN's No. 6 heavyweight, and Wilder entered the ring at No. 7. Zhang won a silver medal as a super heavyweight at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing while Wilder claimed bronze in the heavyweight division.

They appeared to be in different weight classes Saturday, too, as Zhang outweighed Wilder by 68.2 pounds -- at 282.8 compared with Wilder's 214.6. There is no weight limit in boxing's heavyweight division.

Zhang used that size advantage to bully Wilder and smother him on the ropes. A southpaw, Zhang was able to connect with right hooks that scored time and again as Wilder cocked his vaunted right hand back but rarely let it go.

In Round 5, Zhang finally began to unload his best weapon. Wilder had just scored with a chopping right hand when he threw yet another right that was countered by Zhang for the finish.

The victory made it a clean sweep for Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions, which was squaring off with rival U.K. promoter Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing in a unique 5 vs. 5 team concept created by Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority.

After Zhang's TKO win, Alalshikh presented Warren with a large check worth $3 million.

- Mike Coppinger, ESPN Boxing Insider