Frank Warren isn't interested in the post-fight pile-on, and honestly, fair enough.

Moses Itauma took a brutal lesson from Filip Hrgovic on Saturday night, stopped in the ninth round after seemingly controlling large portions of a fight he had no business losing on paper. The vultures were circling before the blood was even dry. Audley Harrison and Chris Eubank Jr both came out swinging at Itauma's corner, questioning head coach Ben Davison and the tactics that left a 21-year-old gassing badly down the stretch. Warren's response to both of them was swift, pointed, and hard to argue with.

[The preparations had already come under scrutiny](/uprise/boxing/he-didnt-spar-enough---itauma-preparations-questioned) before Warren opened his mouth. Now the promoter has made his position clear.

Warren Wasn't Having It

"Let's get it right," Warren told Sky Sports. "Audley Harrison, it just didn't happen for him. Chris Eubank is 36 years of age and he's never won a world title, in his last fight he was all over the place."

Blunt. But the man has a point. It's always the ones with their own question marks who come out loudest after somebody else falls. Warren also noted that before the fight, practically no one outside Hrgovic's own camp tipped the Croatian to win. That's worth remembering when everyone's suddenly a tactical genius on Monday morning.

Warren was clear he hasn't yet sat down fully with the team to review what went wrong. He's not rushing to conclusions. What he would say is that the fight itself told us something important about Itauma's character, even in defeat. He took what Hrgovic had to offer and kept going. That matters.

What Went Wrong and What Comes Next

Warren's reading of the performance was honest. Itauma went full throttle from the first bell and never adjusted. "He just put his foot on the throttle and put it into overdrive. That's how he fought and he didn't pace himself." That's not a fitness problem, according to Warren. The pace Itauma set and the volume he threw proves the conditioning was there. The issue was fight management, knowing when to chip away rather than swing for the knockout every single time.

[Hrgovic himself said Itauma boxed like an amateur](/uprise/boxing/hrgovic-itauma-is-amazing-but-boxed-like-an-amateur), and in that narrow sense, both men are saying the same thing. The talent is obvious. The ringcraft still needs work. At 21, that's not a death sentence, it's a to-do list.

Warren referenced Wladimir Klitschko's early career setbacks as context for where Itauma could go from here. The faith is genuine, not just promotional noise. "I genuinely believe he can go on to become a world champion and hold the title."

[Whether Itauma gets an immediate shot at redemption is another matter entirely.](/uprise/boxing/itauma-vows-to-be-back-but-unlikely-to-receive-hrgovic)

Our Take

Nobody sensible is writing off Moses Itauma after one bad night at 21 years old. Warren is right to push back on Harrison and Eubank Jr, two men whose own records make their criticism a bit rich. The lessons from Saturday are real and they need addressing properly, but the kid has the tools. The question is whether the team around him can actually teach him to use them. We'll find out.