No way, says the skilled, slick and experienced Rydell Booker, in answering the question asked in the above headline. Unbeaten heavyweight contender Filip Hrgović will face Booker, his former sparring partner, at The Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida on November 7. The fight will take place behind closed doors.
The hugely promising and talented Hrgović is coming off a massive KO over a little known foe, in Greek heavyweight Alexandra Kartozia, who Hrgović left in a heap courtesy of his big right hand in the second round.
Again, Hrgović was not in the ring with a top level heavyweight, but his highlight reel KO sure got people talking.
Now, the unbeaten Croatian is vowing to halt Booker, the way Kubrat Pulev was unable to do when he fought Booker last November. Hrgović is currently 11-0 with 9 wins coming via stoppage. Booker, who is 39 years of age, is currently 26-3(13) and he has never come close to being knocked out.
Booker, who has been a pro for a good number of years (resuming his career after a long absence due to a jail sentence), was kind enough to speak briefly with ESB, and he said that in his belief, Hrgović is “too slow” for him, that he will not be landing any big right hands on him come November 7.
“I’m not a trash-talking guy so I have no prediction ahead of the fight. However, I do know what i was doing to [Hrgović] when I was his main sparring partner in Miami (this ahead of Hrgović’s May 2019 fight with Gregory Corbin) – when I was not in shape at all,” Booker said.
“He will not hit me with that big right hand that you can see coming from two miles away; just as he couldn’t do it in camp. He’s just too slow for me.”
Booker admits he was not in good physical shape in the Pulev fight of almost a year ago. If the cagey veteran who has learned more tricks of the trade than a good number of heavyweights ever will, turns up in top shape for this fight, we could have a very interesting fight on our hands on November 7. Can Booker do what the ultra-experienced Kevin Johnson did, and extend Hrgović?
Maybe Booker will do more than that.