The confident Croatian contender considers Itauma too young, too immature, too inexperienced and too unproven to beat him in an intriguing main event DAZN will stream from O2 Arena. The durable, rugged Hrgovic appears, on paper at least, to be the most capable of the 15 opponents Itauma has chosen to fight since the emerging English star began his pro career in January 2023.

Ranked No. 5 among The Ring’s top 10 contenders in their division, Hrgovic has a better chance to test Itauma than the aged Dillian Whyte who was overwhelmed in the first round a year ago in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the tentative Jermaine Franklin that the 21-year-old southpaw stopped in the fifth round of his last match March 28 in Manchester.

“God willing, I’ll beat him,” Hrgovic said during their final press conference Thursday. “I’ll smash the kid on Saturday. I’ll send him back to high school.”

Based on how Itauma (14-0, 12 KOs) has largely obliterated opponents throughout his ascent in boxing’s most important division, we’d settle for Hrgovic simply making him overcome the slightest bit of adversity. At least then we would come away from what’s been billed as the most dangerous assignment of Itauma’s three-year career knowing how he will react when everything doesn’t go his way in the ring.

Franklin didn’t win a round on any of the scorecards, yet taking Itauma beyond the second round for the first time in 10 fights passed as a point of emphasis.

The powerful, precise Itauma isn’t overconfident, but he would love to make quicker work of Hrgovic (20-1, 15 KOs), who has lost only to Daniel Dubois on cuts in June 2024.

“The perfect performance obviously would be go a couple rounds,” Itauma said, “and then finish the job.”

Hrgovic informed Itauma that will be much more difficult than he thinks.

“No one ever knocked me out, so if people say he’s the next Muhammad Ali, we’ll see,” Hrgovic said. “I hope so. I’m not the next Cleveland Williams or Ernie Terrell. We’ll see what’s gonna happen, but no one ever knocked me out. So, I don’t know. If he’s so good, we’ll see.”

Mikaela Mayer won’t just take on the No. 5 fighter on The Ring’s women’s pound-for-pound list in her opponent’s proverbial backyard Saturday night at bp pulse LIVE in Birmingham, England.

The three-division champion has returned to the only country where she has lost a professional fight. Each of Mayer’s two losses in the paid ranks – split-decision defeats to Alycia Baumgardner and Natasha Jonas – took place in London in October 2022 and Liverpool in January 2024.

Mayer (22-2, 5 KOs), ranked No. 3 on our pound-for-pound list, has a rematch clause that should ensure a second fight with Chantelle Cameron (22-1, 8 KOs) if she comes up short for the third time on British soil. It’s impressive nonetheless that the 36-year-old Mayer embraced this challenge in her first fight since signing with Jake Paul’s MVP Promotions in March.

This is Mayer’s second straight trip into enemy territory as well.

She comfortably beat Mary Spencer in their 10-round fight October 30 in Montreal, Spencer’s hometown. Mayer will defend the WBC and WBO 154-pound crowns against Cameron that she won when she defeated Spencer (10-4, 6 KOs).

Dmitry Bivol gladly gave up his WBC light heavyweight title in April 2025, when David Benavidez was his mandatory challenger for that belt.

Isn’t it convenient then that it is suddenly important for Bivol to keep his WBO belt when he was ordered to defend it against Callum Smith? The WBO announced Thursday that its purse bid for the Bivol-Smith clash was canceled because the two sides reached an agreement for them to fight next on a date and at a site to be determined.

This isn’t an indictment of England’s Smith, an accomplished, gritty former super middleweight champion who remains one of the top five fighters in the 175-pound division. This is about Bivol, who contended he needed a tuneup fight following back surgery before he could move forward with either a third fight against Artur Beterbiev or a bout with Benavidez.

Bivol (25-1, 12 KOs) was a 30-1 favorite over another mandatory challenger, Michael Eifert, and handled the IBF’s No. 1 contender accordingly May 30 in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

But now he also needs to fight Smith (31-2, 22 KOs), who was battered by Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) on his way to getting stopped in January 2024?

The 41-year-old Beterbiev deserves a rubber match, particularly after giving Bivol a rematch just four months after their first fight in October 2024. Bivol should’ve given Beterbiev that opportunity next, even if it cost him a WBO belt he doesn’t need to justify his status as undisputed light heavyweight champion.

Had he done that, we wouldn’t have only seen Bivol-Beterbiev III. Smith also likely would’ve faced domestic rival Joshua Buatsi (20-1, 13 KOs) for the WBO belt in a rematch of one of the most entertaining fights of 2025.

■ Caroline Dubois is The Ring’s lightweight champion, ranked No. 10 on our pound-for-pound list and undeniably one of the most formidable fighters in women’s boxing. She has also repeatedly called for a fight with Ring junior lightweight champ Alycia Baumgardner. It’s still disappointing to see Dubois (13-0-1, 5 KOs) matched against an unproven, undeserving challenger for her WBC and WBO 135-pound crowns on the Mayer-Cameron undercard. Dubois is a 25-1 favorite because overmatched Amelia Moore (4-0, 1 KO) has beaten opponents who entered fights against the 36-year-old American with a combined record of 12-16-3.

■ Yoenli Hernandez might’ve shown enough vulnerability in defeating Francisco Daniel Veron on Saturday night in Las Vegas to encourage previously reluctant middleweights to fight the Cuban knockout artist. If a harder puncher than Veron (17-2-1, 10 KOs) can exploit the defensive flaws of The Ring’s No. 2 contender, we could see Hernandez (11-0, 9 KOs) in a difficult fight sooner than we think due to his reckless aggression at times.

■ The Nevada State Athletic Commission is more at fault for Patricia Morse Jarman submitting another inaccurate scorecard Saturday night than Morse Jarman herself. By stubbornly assigning her to judge the Carlos Utria-Israel Mercado middleweight fight three weeks after she somehow scored Raul Curiel a 100-90 winner over Quinton Randall in a welterweight bout that was much more competitive than that, the NSAC did a disservice to Mercado (13-2-2, 7 KOs), who lost a split decision. He undoubtedly won more than the three rounds for which Morse Jarman credited him (97-93), maybe twice as many. If a more competent judge joined Chris Migliore and Steve Weisfeld at ringside for their 10-rounder on the Rolly Romero-Teofimo Lopez undercard, Mercado might’ve earned a split-decision victory or a draw in a fight Utria (15-0, 11 KOs) was a 10-1 favorite to win.