WORLD heavyweight title prospect Moses Itauma warned that talk is cheap after Filip Hrgovic promised to “smash the kid” and “send him back to high school.”

The International Boxing Federation belt relinquished by Oleksandr Usyk will be on the line at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday night and 21-year-old Itauma (14-0, 12KOs) could become the second youngest heavyweight champion of all time.

Croatian rival Hrgovic (20-1, 15KOs) will be the toughest challenge of Itauma’s fledgling career and has been disparaging about the highly rated British fighter in the build-up, which continued on Thursday where more jibes were thrown at the Chatham southpaw.

Asked if Hrgovic had got under his skin, Itauma said: “Nah, man. At the end of the day talk is cheap. He has just got schoolboy banter and that’s it. You’ve got to keep rolling.”

Olympic bronze medallist Hrgovic hit back: “I am just telling you facts.

“I am not playing any games. I just tell you what I think in the moment. Like I said, I am not so smart to play these mind games.

“I think he is a kid, he is not mature enough and I think I am the man. I am a much better age, much more experience and, yeah, that is it. No mind games.

“God willing you know I will beat him, I’ll smash the kid on Saturday and send him back to high school.”

As has been Itauma’s manner during his rise in the blue-riband division, the IBF contender was calmness personified and refused to engage with the 34-year-old.

“I want to first address that I am not trying to become the second youngest heavyweight champion of the world, I am trying to beat Filip Hrgovic,” Itauma explained.

“Second of all, this fight is what I wanted. I asked Queensberry for so long. I think it is a style match-up I reckon I can thrive on, the pressure I can thrive on and it is just waiting to fight.

“Obviously the world title is an achievement and an accolade. And that is a plus one, but my sole focus is Hrgovic.

“If I ain’t going to beat Hrgovic, it doesn’t matter about the world title and it doesn’t matter about the noise or nothing. My job is to be victorious on fight night.

“I am ready to rock and roll.”

Itauma was told about the kind words of Prince Naseem Hamed, who claimed the 21-year-old is a “million times better” than Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury and can be the best of all time.

Yet Itauma said: “Obviously it’s good but when I hear things like that, I kind of have to put it to the back of my mind.

“I have such a long way to go in the sport of boxing, but of course I appreciate it from an all-time great like Prince Naseem Hamed.”

However, Itauma was unequivocal about how it finishes on Saturday.

“The perfect performance? It would be go a couple of rounds and finish the job,” he said.

“Same script. Different story.”