During a roundtable interview with reporters in a hotel a few minutes away from O2 Arena on Monday afternoon, the 34-year-old discussed, in detail, why his and Moses Itauma’s path to their August 29 clash cannot be compared.

“I feel like he has got everything on a plate,” Hrgovic says. “But nobody ever gave me anything.

“If you come from Great Britain, you get everything on the plate so I'm not impressed. I'm impressed with my path more than his because you need a lot of toughness to endure what I endure.”

It is put to Hrgovic, therefore, that he might just have a chip on his shoulder.

“What? I don’t understand this,” he says. But once the meaning of the phrase is explained, he understands completely.

“Yes. I do believe this,” he says. “I just believe that everything you want to achieve must be hard. I only know the hard way, not the easy way. All I know is fighting.

“But Moses? I just saw him. He had like two litres of water. Probably a nutritionist told him to drink it. Blah blah blah, he’s like a new school, modern fighter. He’s lifting weights, drinking water, probably in the morning he went out and said hello to the sun.

“He probably breathed in and out 10 times, drunk his water, took a cold shower and then went and kissed a tree.

“He’s … bullshit. And I’m the real deal.”

Itauma has been tipped for superstardom ever since his days as an amateur, when he tore through the ranks at youth level and also impressed during spars with established pros such as Lawrence Okolie.

“I was youth world champion and no one cared,” he said. “But Itauma, youth world champion, boom; Queensbury contract, building him, making him into a big star in 14 fights.

“You get a great coach, good manager, good promoter. You have everything. So why would I be impressed with Moses Itauma when I have had a 10 times the harder path? I'm not impressed.”

Even so, Hrgovic (20-1, 15 KOs) is under no illusions about the test that awaits him. Since turning pro, Itauma (14-0, 12 KOs) has moved quickly and has ended his last five fights inside the distance.

So Hrgovic will be cutting no corners in his old-school training camp under Abel Sanchez in Big Bear, California.

“It will be a lot of pain,” he says. “A lot of sacrifice for this camp. I'll have a 10-week camp.

“It's at altitude and Abel Sanchez is a real old school guy. I think he's really brutal, he doesn't believe in this modern bullshit recovery. Physiotherapy, vitamins, you must drink water, you must do this, you must do yoga … He's just old school. Just hard work and a lot of pain in his camps.

“There is a lot of isolation. Just a lot of hard work. Working with Abel Sanchez has reminded me about the simplicity of boxing. Work hard and shut the f--k up. Don't be smart.

“If you were smart, you would be a lawyer, or you would be a journalist, or you would be a doctor or a manager. You're not smart, you're here to work, you’re here to kill this guy. Run every day. Wake up at 6 a.m., don't drink vitamins and that's it. Simplicity.

“In one way it's simple but actually in another way it's not so simple. Because it takes you to the point where you need to speak with yourself.

“When you go through all that pain. And then there is where the win happens. It’s within yourself because you really meet yourself and that’s the point of a hard training camp.

“I will have a lot of sacrifice in this camp and it will show on August 29. At least I will be in great shape.”