The promoter wants to organize a fight between a Ukrainian and a Croatian challenger as soon as possible
Head of promotional company Matchroom Boxing Eddie Hearn met with Alexander Krasyuk, promoter of the WBO/WBA/IBF/IBO title holder in London Oleksandr Usyk.
According to the Briton, the meeting touched upon the possible duel between the Ukrainian and the mandatory contender for the IBF belt. Filip Hrgovic.
“Certainly, the situation with Hrgovic is urgent, and I was quite frank with Krasyuk. Of course, our task is to insist on this mandatory protection as much as we can. We think that this fight will be scheduled very soon. Naturally, Usyk will be looking at Fury and our job is to try to put Hrgovic in the best position to get a title shot as soon as possible.”
Earlier, Hearn, also representing the interests of the Croatian boxer, said that Philip would insist on the mandatory defense of the IBF title. The Croatian is the official contender for the belt owned by Usyk. According to the promoter, this fight can be organized in December.
Usyk’s promoter Oleksandr Krasyuk said that his team was ready to obey the IBF rules and fight against Hrgovic, however, he noted that the Croatian was not very popular, so he was not particularly interesting commercially and in the media as a rival to the Ukrainian champion.
Usyk himself has repeatedly stated that after Dubois he would like to fight Tyson Fury. Presumably, this fight can take place in early 2024. Negotiations between the parties are ongoing. The potential date for a face-to-face meeting between Tyson and Alexander is January 27, 2024.
Usyk re-defended his titles on August 26 in Wroclaw, knocking out British Daniel Dubois in the ninth round. The British boxer’s team filed an appeal against the result of this fight.
Hrgovic defeated Australian Demsey McKean in his last fight on a boxing evening in London at the O2 Arena. The Croatian retained his status as a mandatory contender for the IBF heavyweight title, which he won last August by defeating Zhang Zhilei.
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.
