Boxing News: Filip Hrgovic, the IBF’s No. 1 heavyweight contender, is ready to face Oleksandr Usyk next.
Usyk, the unified IBF, WBO, and WBA champion, was in talks with WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, but those talks fell through this week.
Hrgovic would be the mandatory challenger for Usyk’s IBF title. His promoter, Kalle Sauerland, revealed that the Croatian contender has been training and is now ready to fight.
“Usyk, Hrgovic is waiting for you, he wants all of the belts,” Sauerland told Sky Sports.
“Filip, he’s not the sort to beat about the bush. He’s been waiting for this moment for a long time.”
In his most recent fight, Hrgovic defeated Zhilei Zhang to win an IBF eliminator. “After the whole IBF top 15 refused to fight him, hats off to Zhang,” Sauerland continued. “He is the next in line to face Usyk for the IBF belt.
“Who doesn’t believe Hrgovic could give any heavyweight a run for his money?
“I’m returning to the fact that he prevented David Haye from competing in the David Haye-Tyson Fury fight. Unfortunately, he was the one who delivered the left hook in sparring that knocked him out of the bout.
“There’s the leaking sparring with Deontay Wilder,” he added. “It’s a back-and-forth battle. It’s sparring boxing on pay-per-view.
“Hrgovic is obviously a major, massive fight at heavyweight for anybody who knows their boxing.”
Given the world championship-sanctioning bodies’ rotation structure, the WBA is anticipated to call their obligatory challenger first. That would be Daniel Dubois from the United Kingdom.
Despite being hurt in his most recent bout, a thrilling victory over Kevin Lerena in December, Dubois announced Monday that he is ready to fight and hopes to surprise Usyk.
“I can’t guess too much on that, but we know Filip Hrgovic is the IBF [required], so it’s up to the regulatory authorities to support our guy. It’s a fight that I believe many people want to see “Sauerland explained.
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