Fans everywhere want to see a big heavyweight unification showdown between unbeaten rival champions Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. There is talk of the fight taking place some time early next year. However, Filip Hrgovic – who defeated Zhang Zhilei to earn his position as the IBF mandatory challenger – has made it clear he isn’t going anywhere.
Hrgovic’s promoter, Kalle Sauerland, spoke with Sky Sports, and he said he and his fighter have called for “an immediate purse bid” with regards to a Usyk-Hrgovic fight. This of course could mess things up as far as us getting to see Usyk and Fury duke it out for all four heavyweight belts. But Sauerland is adamant his guy must have his shot.
“Hold on, they [the IBF] called for Tyson Fury versus [Vyacheslav Glazkov] the Monday after the Klitschko fight after he [Fury] beat the man who had the title for ten years. So this is what the IBF do,” Sauerland said with regards to how stringent the IBF can be with when it comes to there mandatory defences. “They come down on the letter of the law. We expect them to do that. We called for an immediate purse bid.”
Sauerland went on to say that he is “not in the Usyk business,” that he is instead “in the Hrgovic game and ‘El Animal’ will get that shot.”
So, it seems Hrgovic will not budge, Usyk will have to fight him or risk being stripped of the IBF belt the way Fury was striped shortly after he had won it, along with the WBA, WBO and IBO belts, back in November of 2015.
Boxing politics can spoil things, as we know, but Hrgovic, currently 15-0(12), IS entitled to his shot at the IBF belt. The 30 year old earned it. We will now have to wait and see what Usyk does; whether he agrees to fight Hrgovic or decides to vacate the belt. A Fury-Usyk fight would of course still be a big, and incredibly intriguing fight without the IBF belt being on the line, but there is something special about the idea of seeing a for-all-the-marbles, four-belt heavyweight unification clash.
We may not get it now.