The 21-year-old betting favorite, who attempted to become Britain’s youngest world heavyweight champion, had worked his way into a healthy lead on the cards. The Croatian turned the tide and stopped Itauma with 33 seconds left in the ninth round.

There were worrying scenes at the fight’s conclusion, with Itauma unable to stand up and fire back by the time referee Howard Foster decided to stop the fight. Itauma (14-1, 12 KOs) was given oxygen in the ring and left the arena on a stretcher.

His promoter, Frank Warren, who confirmed that the southpaw from Chatham, Kent suffered a leg injury, now says it will be up to the youngster to decide if he wants to box again.

“Moses has gone to the hospital, he’s done something to his leg and obviously he has to be checked out,” Warren said. “It was a grueling fight, a fast-paced fight and that’s where he’s at. I don’t know what’s happened [to his leg], but he’s gone to hospital. He was knackered. He had oxygen, quite rightly, it was a very, very fast-paced fight.

“He was throwing punches on instinct at the end and he did catch him a couple of times while he was still fighting like that. I think the referee gave him a chance, and it was the right decision in the end.”

When pressed on what may be next for Itauma, the Hall-of-Fame promoter said, “It’s too early to be making those sorts of decisions. I just want to talk to him first and he will have to want to do it, which I’m sure he will. If he comes back, I’m sure he will, we’ve just got to learn from it and move forward.

“I still think he’s one of the most unbelievable talents that I’ve ever been involved with in my time in boxing. We are with him and we will stick with him. I don’t know what he’s going to say. I’m sure he’s a fighting man and he showed that right until the end. You find out the caliber of a guy in times like this and you learn from it. I’m sure he will.”

Warren did not get the chance to speak to Itauma, who he signed as a teenage prospect, before he left the arena for the hospital. The Queensberry Promotions boss now says he will let the dust settle on what happened against Hrgovic (21-1, 16 KOs) before attempting to discuss the future with Itauma.

“I wouldn’t even go there at the moment,” Warren said. “Mentally, he’s going to be completely down, so we will have to talk to him and lift him. He will take some time out, go and have a nice break. It’s not even the time to talk to him about it at the moment. It’s probably one for two weeks or a month’s time. Then we will see where we go with it.

“How long does it take a fighter to recover physically and mentally? That all depends on the fighter. But we do know his aura of invincibility is gone now. Who knows? Maybe that will make it easier for us to make fights for him now.”