January 3, 2022 - Croatia's best boxer Filip Hrgović is hard at work preparing for new challenges, and allegedly everything has been agreed upon for his next fight. So could it be Filip Hrgović against Luis Ortiz?
Namely, Hrgović's promoters, the Sauerland brothers, announced that Luis Ortiz's manager accepted the fight against the Croatian boxer, reports Gol.hr.
Hrgovic's opponent in the "final eliminator", i.e., the qualifying fight for the chance to become a world champion, should be 42-year-old Cuban Luis Ortiz.
It would be Filip Hrgović's biggest professional boxing fight. Luis Ortiz has been at the top of international boxing for years. Today, at the age of 42, he is the 10th heavyweight globally. He has 33 wins and only two defeats in his career.
He knocked out Martin on Saturday
On Saturday, Ortiz defeated Charles Martin, one of Hrgović's many undefeated opponents, by technical knockout in the sixth round and improved his professional ratio to 33-2-2 (28 knockouts). The only two defeats were against Anthony Joshua in the title fight. If he wants a third chance, he will have to beat Hrgović first, who would be the most formidable opponent in his career so far (14-0), reports Index.hr.
"Hrgović against Ortiz in the final eliminator. Who wins?" Brothers Kalle and Nisse Sauerland wrote on Twitter, then tweeted on Instagram, where they tagged Ortiz's promoter Jay Jimenez and thanked him for accepting the fight.
A belt fight eliminator or final eliminator?
ESPN writes that Ortiz's next opponent could be Andy Ruiz, Joseph Parker, or Joe Joyce, which the Sauerland brothers followed with a contradictory comment: "He has to fight Hrgović if he wants the final eliminator." Therefore, it is not clear whether the winner of this fight would immediately get a chance for the IBF belt or only then go to the final qualifiers.
Hrgović was tipped for many great fights last year, mostly against Martin but also against Yoka, Parker, Zhang. He fought only against unknowns like Kartozija, Radonjić, and Ahmatović, and returnee Booker in the last two years. Despite routine victories, he dropped to 37th place in the world in the BoxRes rankings, even though he was once close to the top ten.
Hrgović has been boxing professionally for four years and is currently undefeated.
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