Eddie Hearn isn’t convinced that a fight between his charge Filip Hrgovic and Jared Anderson, the up-and-coming contender promoted by rival Top Rank, is a realistic matchup given where both fighters are at this point in their respective careers.
Croatia’s Hrgovic recently most likely put himself into a mandatory title position by winning an IBF heavyweight eliminator against Zhilei Zhang last month on the undercard of the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Anthony Joshua heavyweight rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The IBF belt is held by Ukraine’s Usyk, who also holds the WBA and WBO versions.
A promising fighter from the United States, Anderson, the highly regarded 23-year-old prospect of Toledo, Ohio, subsequently called out the 30-year-old Hrgovic, saying he “would really love that fight.” Anderson said he was eager to fight anybody within the top 10 of the sanctioning bodies in order to improve his position; Anderson is not currently ranked in the top 15 by the WBA, WBC, WBO or IBF.
In a recent interview on The DAZN Show with hosts Ak and Barak, Hearn said he was not optimistic that a fight between Hrgovic (15-0, 12 KOs) and Anderson (12-0, 12 KOs) would materialize, in part, because of their different career trajectories but also because he believes Top Rank's head Bob Arum has no interest in making that fight any time soon.
“Listen, Barak, you know the game,” Hearn said. “You think Bob Arum is going to put Jared Anderson in with Filip Hrgovic now? Like seriously? He can say he will but he wouldn’t because it would be mismanagement.
“The guy is a good young prospect. I know Filip Hrgovic’s performance (against Anderson) wasn’t great but he’s an outstanding heavyweight who’s a world class heavyweight. They just wouldn’t make that fight. Jared Anderson’s going to move through the rankings and fight everyone."
Hearn expects Hrgovic to fight one more time before getting the call from the IBF for his title shot. Hearn said he is open to the idea of Hrgovic fighting Anderson, but he insisted that Top Rank would have to express interest in making that fight.
"If he (Anderson) wants to fight Filip Hrgovic, they’re (Top Rank) welcome to reach out," Hearn said. "Like I said, he’s (Hrgovic) going to have one more fight before he’s called as the mandatory, probably. So he’s going to stay active.”
“Jared Anderson is a good prospect,” Hearn added. “He’s yet to fight anyone with a pulse, but if he wants to come up and step up against those kinds of guys, he’s a great talent and I’m sure he’s gonna be in the mix as well.”
