May 28, 2022 - Croatian boxer Luka Plantić advanced to the semifinals of the European Championships in Yerevan in the light heavyweight category up to 80 kg, thus securing at least a bronze medal!

The 25-year-old Olympian defeated Armenian Hambardzum Hakobyan 5-0 in the quarterfinals unanimously by the judges after a relentless, fierce fight in all three rounds; likely the most ferocious battle ever seen at the European Championships. In an unprecedented clash that went into three rounds and several complex exchanges of blows from both sides, Luka Plantić shook the strong, aggressive Armenian in the third round and secured a European medal and semifinal spot, reports Gol.hr.

Plantić will box in the semifinals on Sunday, May 29, in the evening program against Serbian Russian Artyom Ageyev.

Luka defeated great fighters from Georgia and Armenia in Yerevan. Until the semifinals, the Russian Ageyev, who fights under the Serbian flag, eliminated Pole Goinski, then the first seed Spaniard Yalidov, and in the quarterfinals, Bulgarian Nikolov. The Russian is an excellent technician; he moves great and hits as a counterpuncher. He is one of many Russian boxers on the Serbian national team led by Russian coaches at the European Championships in Yerevan.

Last year, Luka Plantić competed at the Olympics and was one step closer to the quarterfinals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, as well as at the World Championships in Belgrade - he lost both fights by close, dubious decisions of the referees.

The Sesvete native and member of BK Salona from Solin has so far been the world runner-up in the junior seniors (2014), and in the same year, he won a bronze medal at the Youth Olympic Games in China.

Filip Hrgović won the last medal for Croatia at the European Senior Boxing Championships in 2015.

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September 10, 2021 - A Croatian boxing spectacle will be witnessed tonight thanks to Filip Hrgović, Željko Mavrović, and Peter Milas!

Filip Hrgović has his first fight this year in Klagenfurt tonight. Before him, in one of the pre-fights, Željko Mavrović enters the ring for the first time since 1998, and the great evening of Croatian boxing is completed by Petar Milas, whose opponent in Paris is one of the best young heavyweights of today, Tony Yoka, reports Index.hr.

Boxing has not been in the center of attention of the Croatian sports public for a long time, but tonight's program is an excellent reason to change that for at least one day.

Hrgović's first fight in 10 months

Hrgović had not fought since November last year when he defeated Rydell Booker in the fifth round by technical knockout and formally won the IBF International heavyweight title in the US. 

Since then, Hrgović and his camp have complained that no one wants to accept a fight against him, picking on some of the top heavyweights who could bring him closer to fighting for the world title. In the meantime, he duly ignored Alen Babić's challenges, justifying that he was below his level, and then arranged a fight with Montenegrin Marko Radonjić, the 229th heavyweight on BoxRec's list.

Radonjić is a 31-year-old from Cetinje who has 22 professional fights and 22 victories behind him, all by knockout. The ratio seems scary, more impressive than Hrgović's (12 wins, 10 knockouts), but Hrgović is by far the most renowned fighter he has ever encountered.

At yesterday's weigh-in in the center of Klagenfurt, Hrgović weighed 112 kilograms, which is in line with his usual weight for fights, while Radonjić weighed slightly more (113.2 kg).

Mavrović returns after 23 years

At the same Matchroom boxing event, Željko Mavrović will return, who last fought in 1998 for the world title against Lennox Lewis. Croatian boxing fans remember the seventh round, in which Mavrović had the fantastic Briton on the ropes. Still, he failed to finish it and eventually lost by a unanimous decision of the judges.

And such a defeat, the first after 27 consecutive victories, was quite an undertaking given Lewis' power at the time, and many expected his career to flourish after that, as he had not yet entered his 30s, the best years for a boxer. He is now in his 50s, and they are long behind him, but after watching the clash of the legends between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones, he became motivated, and now his ultimate goal is to arrange a fight against Tyson.

Mavrović went from boxing to entrepreneurship, but his business with macrobiotics failed. In recent years, he has been sought after in numerous roles in the world of boxing, but he has not held any of them, except for commentary on RTL. He left it to others for tonight because he would be on the opposite side of the camera.

His opponent is the 26-year-old Georgian Ramazi Gogichashvili, a "journeyman" who fights often and mostly loses. He has won 14 fights in his career, lost 35, and two ended in a draw, but even such a ratio is misleading as he has won only two of 26 fights in the last five years. He was last caught by Croatian boxer Agron Smakići two weeks ago and knocked out by Alen Babić two years ago.

At the official weigh-in, Mavrović weighed 99.2 kg, and Gogičašvili weighed significantly more - 111 kg.

The Croatian Boxing Federation did not issue a license to Mavrović, so tonight will be a revival fight.

Split's Milas faces Yoka

In Paris, a little further west at the Roland Garros tennis center, an event will take place where Peter Milas will fight the young French star Tony Yoka. Like that of Hrgović and Radonjić, it will be a clash of two undefeated boxers. Yoka has won all ten fights (eight by knockout) and Milas all 15 (11 by knockout).

Like Hrgović, the 26-year-old from Split owns the international champion belt, but according to the IBO version. This will be his first fight in almost two years when he defeated South African Johnny Muller by a unanimous decision. Yoka has a path similar to Hrgović's, whom he defeated in the semifinals of the Olympic Games in Rio 2016. Milas is conceived as one of his opponents on the way to the world title.

Milas fights with about 100 kilograms, so this time as well. He weighed in at 100.8 kg, and Yoka at 108.3.

Of all three Croatian fights tonight, the first on the program is Mavrović's, expected at 19:30, with a broadcast on RTL 2.

Filip Hrgović should start at around 22:30, and Milas should be in the ring against Yoka at around 22:00. RTL will broadcast these two fights on its first channel.

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July 25, 2021 - Luka Plantić made sure that the small Croatian boxing delegation maintained a clean sheet at the Olympic Games in Tokyo after his first competition, where he defeated Jordanian Odai Riyad Adel Al Hindawi in a light heavyweight bout by a split decision (3-2).

Plantić thus joined Nikolina Ćaćić in the second round of the Olympic boxing tournament, but in a significantly different way.

The Croatian boxer was more restrained in the first round, which the judges scored (2-3) in favor of the Jordanian fighter. In the second round, Al Hindawi waited longer for counterattack opportunities and tried to keep Plantić at a distance, but the judges rewarded Plantić's greater activity (3-2).

In the third round, especially towards the end of the fight, both fighters ran out of strength which affected the accuracy and strength of the punches. Plantić was more aggressive again and perhaps that was the impression that ruled.

Namely, the Russian and Algerian scoring judges gave Plantić an advantage in all three rounds, the Moroccan and the Korean scored the same fight in favor of the Jordanian boxer, and the Argentine judge prevailed, giving the first round to Al Hindawi, and the second and third to the Croatian fighter, who was given the opportunity to continue on his way to the Olympic medal.

Rogelio Romero Torres, a 26-year-old Mexican who was free in the first round, is waiting for him on that trip on Wednesday, July 28, at 1:12 PM CET.

Source: HRT

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