After a meteoric rise that made him one of boxing's most talked about young fighters, on Saturday night, Itauma suffered his first professional defeat and now faces the most important stretch of his career.

Not because the loss exposed him as a fraud, as some critics may claim — far from it.

But because what happens next will tell us whether Itauma's team views the defeat as a setback that requires proper development or simply an inconvenience that they want to erase as quickly as possible.

The wrong move would be rushing him straight back into another major heavyweight fight.

Itauma, who was heavily favored, started fast against Filip Hrgovic. He scored a knockdown in the second round and was beating down the Croatian in one-sided contest. However, he extended much of his stamina in the first six rounds and found himself completely out of gas by the ninth, when Hrgovic seized the advantage by raining down his own big punches to secure the stoppage and the vacant IBF title.

Itauma doesn't need to prove anything immediately. He needs to rebuild, and there are several fights that make sense.

At only 21 years old, Itauma still has more time than virtually every other contender in the heavyweight division. The race to become one of the youngest heavyweight champions in history may be over, but his opportunity to eventually become a champion is not.

If anything, the defeat should change the timetable. For much of Itauma's professional career, his biggest problem was that opponents couldn't last long enough to teach him anything.

The British fighter’s speed, explosiveness and power allowed him to race through the early stages. Knockouts built momentum and created excitement, but they also meant Itauma entered the upper level of the heavyweight division without accumulating the type of hard rounds that eventually become necessary.

Now his team has an opportunity to correct that. The first fight back should be against an opponent Itauma is expected to beat, but not someone brought in simply to fall over.

Guido Vianello would make sense.

Vianello is experienced, physically capable and has operated at a respectable level in the heavyweight division. He would give Itauma a legitimate opponent without placing him immediately back into a situation where one mistake could derail the rebuild.

It would also be the type of fight where Itauma could focus on controlling rounds rather than feeling pressure to produce another highlight-reel knockout.

Richard Torrez would be a more ambitious option.

Torrez is aggressive, physical and comes to fight. Stylistically, there would be opportunities for Itauma to use his speed, power and movement, but Torrez would also force him to remain disciplined.

Torrez, like Itauma, just suffered the first defeat of his career when Frank Sanchez knocked him out cold in May.

The danger with that matchup is obvious: Torrez is not a confidence-builder in the traditional sense. He would represent a legitimate threat and could turn the fight into exactly the type of demanding battle Itauma might be better served avoiding immediately after his first defeat.

Still, if Itauma wants to make a statement without jumping directly back into the championship picture, Torrez would certainly provide that opportunity.

Then there is Tony Yoka.

Of the three, Yoka may be the most logical.

He has the name recognition of an Olympic gold medalist, the size of a legitimate heavyweight and enough experience to make the fight meaningful. At the same time, Itauma would enter as the younger, faster and more explosive fighter.

It’s a legitimate comeback fight, while still giving Itauma an opportunity to regain confidence against someone who has already experienced adversity at the professional level.

That is exactly what the first fight back should accomplish. Give Itauma a recognizable opponent, have him go some rounds and give him a chance to win convincingly — then move forward.

And if Itauma looks like himself again, the second stage of the rebuild becomes considerably more interesting.

That's where Lawrence Okolie and Richard Riakporhe enter the picture.

Either fight would represent a step up from Vianello, Torrez or Yoka.

Okolie would bring experience at the championship level, awkwardness, physical strength and a tricky enough style to make Itauma work for everything. It would also be a solid domestic heavyweight fight in Britain, with the type of profile that could immediately restore Itauma's momentum.

More importantly, Okolie would ask different questions.

Could Itauma deal with someone who disrupts rhythm? Could he stay patient if the fight becomes ugly? Could he maintain his composure when an opponent refuses to give him the clean exchanges he wants?

Those are exactly the types of questions Itauma eventually needs answered.

Riakporhe presents another intriguing possibility.

Like Okolie, he is big, strong and dangerous enough that Itauma couldn't simply walk through him. A fight with Riakporhe would test Itauma physically and force him to remain switched on for as long as the contest lasts.

And there is a natural progression to the plan.

If Itauma wins both fights, his first career defeat becomes little more than a chapter in his development — and that is what matters most.

There is no need for Itauma to spend years rebuilding. He also shouldn't be thrown immediately back into the deepest end of the division.

The answer lies somewhere in the middle. One fight to regain his confidence and another to prove he has learned from the defeat. Then start talking about the heavyweight elite again.

Boxing has become obsessed with undefeated records, particularly when dealing with heavily promoted young fighters. The first loss is often treated like a catastrophe and it shouldn't be …. especially not at heavyweight.

Plenty of heavyweight champions lost before reaching their peak. The important question was never whether Moses Itauma would remain undefeated forever; it was how he would respond to adversity. Now we're going to find out.

And if his team handles the next 12 to 18 months correctly, the defeat that temporarily slowed Itauma's rise could eventually become the experience that makes him a better heavyweight.

Then he's ready to start knocking on the championship door again.