But while he is currently on a three-fight winning streak, with victories over Joe Joyce, David Adeleye and Dave Allen, the run actually started with a defeat in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia against Daniel Dubois. That night in June 2024, Hrgovic suffered the first loss of his professional career when he was stopped on cuts by Daniel Dubois in the eighth round of a hellacious battle at Kingdom Arena.

But what was perhaps most startling about the fight was the quality of Dubois’ chin, given that Hrgovic hit him clean right hands time and time again but just couldn’t budge the Londoner. “Fighting Daniel Dubois felt like sitting on a boat and throwing rocks into the sea,” Hrgovic told reporters this week. "I just couldn't miss I hit him with so many punches but I didn’t feel good.” The Croatian says his preparation for that clash was rocked by illness a week before the fight, which nearly forced him to pull out altogether. “I swear, one week before the fight I was in my bed,” he says. “I even requested to change my flights for a few days later because I couldn’t move. But I was told I had to fly because they were already booked. “I was sick but recovered a little during fight week. I was drinking like 10 medications every day just to get a little bit of energy. I didn't feel good and after six rounds, I was dead. Not because of his punches, but I was just without conditioning. Also, I had two huge cuts.”

Until that night, Hrgovic had been marching steadily towards a shot at the full world title and, one off-color performance against Zhilei Zhang in 2022 aside, had looked like the sort of potential champion people had been describing him as for the first five years of his career. But the Dubois loss, he admits, was difficult to cope with. He said: "I got over it but it was hard for me. I needed like one year to recover. It was a big shock for me. “I didn't box well because of the different circumstances. I was injured and ill and I was just not focused. I underestimated him and I wasn't just boxing well plus I was cut in round one. Whatever bad that could happen, happened: injury, illness, distractions. So yeah, I would like to have a rematch with him.” Before any hope of a second crack at Dubois, who is now the WBO world heavyweight champion following his victory over Fabio Wardley in May, Hrgovic will have to beat Itauma, the man many have tipped to become the next dominant force at heavyweight. “It’s in the contract that if I beat Moses, I’ll challenge the WBO champion,” Hrgovic says of his multi-fight deal with Queensberry Promotions. “But now it's a big test in front of me so I must take care of Itauma. Stylistically, it's a harder fight [than Dubois] because he's quicker and southpaw. “Dubois has much more achievements, he's a two-time world champion. But stylistically, Itauma is a trickier fighter. “But now, I'm sorry, but I will need to beat your guy. Your next big hope who everybody thinks is the next big thing.”