
Filip Hrgović of Croatia won the vacant International Boxing Federation heavyweight title on Saturday, stopping Britain’s Moses Itauma in the ninth round at London’s O2 Arena. Itauma, 21, was carried from the ring on a stretcher after his trainer, Ben Davison, threw in the towel as referee Howard Foster halted the fight. Hrgović, 34, became the first Croatian heavyweight world champion, claiming the title vacated by Oleksandr Usyk .
Itauma had dominated early, dropping Hrgović in the second round with a right hook and landing repeated combinations, but his stamina faded in the later stages. Hrgović, who credited his endurance to a rigorous training camp under coach Abel Sanchez, rallied with sustained pressure before the stoppage. “I don’t know from where I got energy in that ninth round,” Hrgović said. “It was really not my strength. It was Holy Spirit” .
Meanwhile, the U.S. Open tennis tournament began Sunday in New York with a field reshaped by injuries and absences. Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz returns after a nearly five-month layoff due to a wrist injury, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner withdrew with a knee issue. Alcaraz, the top seed, faces Roman Safiullin in his opening match . Alexander Zverev, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, downplayed the impact of Sinner’s absence and Alcaraz’s limited match practice on his own status as favorite .
In other sports, Argentina defeated the Netherlands in a shootout to win the women’s hockey World Cup final in Amstelveen, ending the Dutch team’s 12-year reign as world champions . Belgium’s women’s team secured bronze, their first World Cup medal in 48 years, with a 1-0 victory over Australia .
On the ATP Tour, Arthur Fery lost the Winston-Salem Open final to Peru’s Ignacio Buse 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday. Fery, who reached the Wimbledon semifinals in July, will rise to No. 33 in the world rankings and now heads to the U.S. Open, where he faces 13th seed Lorenzo Musetti in the first round . In the WTA, Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper are absent from the U.S. Open due to injury, while Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch, the country’s top-ranked woman, expressed concerns over marijuana smoke at off-site practice courts in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, citing breathing difficulties due to her asthma .
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