Filip Hrgovic: record, next fight and profile →
Filip Hrgovic doesn’t buy Luis Ortiz’s excuse. The Croatian contender has been angling for a chance to square off against a fellow top-ranked name in an IBF eliminator for the past year but has been unable to entice anyone of note.
The search for a willing heavyweight to face Filip Hrgovic could lead to restoring a rivalry with an old amateur rival. France’s Tony Yoka is the latest to receive an invitation from the IBF to enter talks for a planned heavyweight title eliminator. The offer comes ahead of what would have been fight week for the unbeaten Frenchman, whose scheduled January 15 clash with Martin Bakole was postponed due to crowd restrictions in France in efforts to combat the Omicron variant.
Undefeated heavyweight Zhang “Big Bang” Zhilei (23-0-1, 18 KOs) is looking for big fights in 2022. Zhang, who is coming off of a second-round knockout of Craig Lewis, is world-ranked in both the IBF and WBO and wants to fight a top heavyweight so that he can earn a title shot.
David Higgins, the manager of former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, explains that an IBF final eliminator with Filip Hrgovic makes no financial sense. Parker won a tough fight last month in his rematch with Derek Chisora.
Promoter Kalle Sauerland, who represents heavyweight contender Filip Hrgovic, wants the IBF to throw down the hammer at their top contenders - because top rated fighters are refusing to take part in a final world title eliminator with Hrgovic.
As BoxingScene.com previously reported, a hand injury has prevented heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz from accepted a potential fight against Filip Hrgovic, which would have been an IBF final eliminator for a mandatory crack at Oleksandr Usyk.
Filip Hrgovic has once again reached familiar ground. Efforts to stage a final title eliminator for the unbeaten Croatian will proceed to the next available ranked contender to determine the mandatory challenger for the IBF heavyweight title. As previously reported by BoxingScene.com, an invitation was submitted by the sanctioning body to Hrgovic and Luis Ortiz, the latter who declined the offer according to Hrgrovic’s team.
Filip Hrgovic and his team hope that from the first IBF-sanctioned heavyweight fight of 2022 comes the chance to move within one win of challenging for his first major title.
Luis Ortiz’s post-fight victory lap will end with a hard decision to make. BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the International Boxing Federation (IBF) has sent out a letter to both Ortiz and Filip Hrgovic on Monday, giving both heavyweight contenders three days to accept an invitation
Kalle Sauerland, promoter for undefeated Olympic bronze medal winner Filip Hrgovic, cautions that Luis Ortiz will have to face his fighter in order to force a mandatory IBF title shot.