Croatian is mandatory contender for IBF title held by Ukrainian
Famous promoter Eddie Hearn reported that the Croatian heavyweight Filip Hrgovic can become a competitor Oleksandr Usyk at a boxing evening in Saudi Arabia in December, if he refuses to fight with a Ukrainian Tyson Fury.
“We have the Joshua fight in the background on August 12th, but we definitely want to fight Wilder. The Usyk-Fury fight has nothing to do with him. If they don’t arrange this fight, then Usyk will fight in this card with our guy, Filip Hrgovic. So we’ll tell you what’s going to happen in the next 48 hours,” Hearn said.
Earlier it was reported that the fight for the title of absolute world heavyweight champion between WBA/WBO/IBF/IBO title holder Usyk and WBC heavyweight champion Fury is planned to take place in the first quarter of 2024. The event is tentatively scheduled for January.
In April, Fury planned to have a unification fight with Usyk, but the Ukrainian pulled out of negotiations due to contract disagreements. The name of Tyson’s new opponent and the date of the Briton’s return to the ring are still unknown.
Usyk will face Daniel Dubois next. The duel should take place on August 26 in Wroclaw, Poland. Usyk will receive 75% of the total prize fund – $6 million. Dubois can count on 25% – 2 million.
Hrgovic defeated Zhang Zhilei of China last August to win Usyk’s mandatory IBF title status.
Source: Sportarena
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
