The Croatian insists on a fight with the Ukrainian champion
Mandatory challenger for IBF heavyweight title Filip Hrgovic again declared his readiness to fight against the holder of the WBO/WBA/IBF/IBO titles Alexandra Usika.
“I can’t relax on holiday because I know I’m next in line. I think about this every day. Yes, I should get my chance next. Fury has a fight scheduled against Ngannou. He’s unavailable, so Usyk has to fight the mandatory challenger, and I’m next in line. I earned this chance a long time ago, I’ve been waiting a long time, so I’m ready to fight.
I’ve been waiting for two years now. I had problems scheduling a fight for mandatory challenger status: I waited a year and a half for it. And now I’m waiting again for over a year. I became a mandatory candidate, but I’m still waiting. There is no unification fight because Fury has a fight scheduled. As I said, they must follow the rules, and in the next fight Usyk must fight me,” Hrgovic said.
The Ukrainian champion wants to fight his next fight against Tyson Fury, but Hrgovic is determined to exercise his right as a mandatory challenger. According to promoter Eddie Hearn, the fight could take place in December.
Usik’s promoter Alexander Krasyuk previously said that his team is ready to obey IBF rules and fight against Hrgovic, but he noted that the Croatian is not particularly popular, so he is not very interesting in commercial and media terms as an opponent of the Ukrainian champion.
Usyk defended his titles again on August 26 in Wroclaw, knocking out Briton Daniel Dubois in the ninth round. The British boxer’s team filed an appeal against the result of this fight.
Hrgovic, in his last fight, defeated Australian Demsey McKean at a boxing evening in London at the O2 Arena. The Croatian retained his mandatory challenger status for the IBF heavyweight title, which he achieved 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.
