Filip Hrgovic on Moses Itauma, God, and his late father: ‘I believe in Heaven, I feel his presence’

Filip Hrgovic’s face hides beneath a cap and behind his hand. He appears to wipe the inside corners of his eyes with his thumb and forefinger, while he ponders his relationship with his father – an ongoing relationship, even four years after his father’s passing.

Behind the Croatian, a speedboat draws a white line of wake through the beautiful blue sea that lines the edge of Dubrovnik. The boat quickly zooms off screen, out of view.

Heavyweight Hrgovic is speaking a month after his upset win over Moses Itauma, a stoppage at London’s O2 Arena. In blunting the blade of Britain’s next great hope, Hrgovic became his nation’s first-ever world heavyweight champion.

In the ring on the night, he dedicated the win to his father. Now, he tells The Independent: “My father was my biggest support, but this is life... What can I do?

“It’s really hard to get used to the fact he’s not here anymore, but I feel his presence. I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, I believe in the resurrection, in life after death – life in heaven. So, I feel his presence, I feel he’s still around. It’s hard in some moments that he’s not here physically, of course, but it is what it is. God has a plan for every life. What can I do? I just think he’s proud of me, and proud of my journey.”

In this moment, we see a reflective Hrgovic. In other moments on the call, which features other publications, he is in good humour. When he is introduced as Croatia’s new heavyweight champion, he counters with a smile: “New ‘superstar’, please.” When asked how it feels to be IBF champ, he laughs: “If I knew it’s so good, I would win the championship before.”

He also laughs while admitting that his friends won good money by betting on him to beat Itauma, whom he stopped in round nine after absorbing all the punishment the 21-year-old could deal out, before punishing him in kind.

Hrgovic is all smiles, too, when explaining: “My daughter is not speaking so good, she’s just two years old, but I when I ask her, ‘What is your dad?’, I teach her to say: ‘My dad is a world champion.’ She doesn’t know what that means. She’ll see [the Itauma fight] one day, for sure.”

On the night of the fight, which Itauma still hasn’t watched back, Hrgovic’s wife and friends were sat behind The Independent at ringside. Hrgovic’s partner of 12 years alternated between screaming support and sobbing at the adversity he was enduring.

“It’s hard for her,” says Hrgovic, 34. “She was alone for almost three months. For the last 12 years she’s with me, and it’s a hard, hard lifestyle. You need to have a strong woman on your side to endure that lifestyle.”

In the lead-up to his bout with Itauma, Hrgovic insisted that his own experience and resilience would prove too much for the young Briton. Indeed it did, as Itauma lost for the first time. Now, Hrgovic supplies Itauma with compliments and constructive criticism in equal measure.

“He’s really good,” Hrgovic insists. “I think he’s a special kid. Whatever I tried, he countered me with his speed and timing. I think if he recovers from this loss mentally, it’s gonna be hard for anyone to beat him ever again. But it was a big shock for him; maybe it’s the end of his career if he’s not mentally tough.”

Hrgovic then claims that many young fighters focus on “bulls***” in the gym. “You need to go through hell mentally to be ready for this s***, man. At 34, I can’t learn so much about boxing anymore, but Abel [Sanchez, coach] got me back to the basics. He won’t tell you what you want to hear.

“[Itauma] is surrounded by like 10,000 yes-men, he’s saying hello to the sun in the morning. If we go for a run or we go to the gym, I think he will beat me in every exercise – running, heavy bag – but I think it’s the mental part, and experience.”

Hrgovic also admits he is “still kind of angry” about his performance against Itauma, explaining: “I’m happy of course, proud of myself, but I’m angry because he outboxed me in the first rounds. I didn’t expect that. My whole career, 20 years, I was never outboxed – even in sparring. Some rounds you lose, but I was always competitive and there, but this kid outboxed me.”

Indeed, in exhausting (and apparently injuring) himself, Itauma left many a mark on Hrgovic, who says: “I didn’t celebrate. I just went home for rest. I didn’t even do my tradition of going to McDonald’s; I didn’t have the strength. I couldn’t sleep, [but I tried].”

There won’t be much rest in the months ahead, with Croatia’s historic champion – sorry, superstar – eyeing unification fights.

In October he will be in London to see the only man to beat him, Daniel Dubois, defend the WBO belt in a rematch with Fabio Wardley. He also cites rumours that Saudi matchmaker Turki Alalshikh wants him to defend his title versus Rico Verhoeven on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury, which is mooted for Cardiff in December.

Whatever ends up happening, Hrgovic holds the strongest hand, at long last.