With the recent announcement that the long-awaited heavyweight unification showdown between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk is “done” – “signed” – IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic finds himself in a frustrating position. Having been the IBF mandatory since August of 2022, when the unbeaten Croatian defeated (via controversial decision) Zhilei Zhang, Hrgovic is still waiting for his shot.
The win over Zhang was followed up by a win over Demsey McKean, the late stoppage win that took place a full year after the Zhang fight seeing Hrgovic retain his IBF mandatory slot. But now, with the heavyweight unification apparently all set (yes, plenty of people do have an ‘I’ll believe it when they’re both in the ring’ attitude), Hrgovic looks set to have to continue playing the waiting game even longer.
Unification fights trump mandatories, but Hrgovic’s promoter, Nisse Sauerland, told Seocnds Out that “we are consulting some kind of a legal process, because we’ve simply waited around since the Zhang fight last August.”
Sauerland insists that this is just not fair, that his fighter is entitled to the shot he has earned. However, Sauerland did say that ultimately, he expects Hrgovic to have to “stay busy” as he continues to wait for his shot, some kind of a legal process notwithstanding.
“We have a position. I can’t discuss it too much here. We are consulting some kind of a legal process, because we’ve simply waited around since the Zhang fight last August for a mandatory,” Sauerland said. “We were pretty much made to fight Demsey McKean to keep our ranking and our mandatory spot. I understand that everyone wants to see this fight [between Fury and Usyk]. And whatever anyone says [about Hrgovic] – ‘he doesn’t deserve it’ – he’s in that [mandatory] position. So you want to make a guy wait a year and a half? He’s got a loss of earnings, at the prime of his career, it’s just not very moral. I think he’s gonna have to keep busy isn’t he? We’ll see. He’s had too many long spells off because of injury or inactivity.”
It does seem most likely that Hrgovic and his team will get nowhere in appealing the Usyk-Fury fight coming before Hrgovic’s shot at Usyk, if this is what they have planned. More likely, Hrgovic will have to keep busy, keep sharp, as he waits for the dust to settle between Fury and Usyk; who could easily end up having two fights, maybe even three!
No, it may not be “very moral” as far as Hrgovic is concerned, with him being made to wait what could turn out to be over two years for his shot. But a massive, publicly demanded, the whole world wants to see it, four-belt heavyweight unification super-fight is what we want and it’s what the sport needs and it’s supposed to be happening pretty soon.
For Hrgovic, this means he will have to remain as patient as he possibly can.