How would you rate Filip Hrgovic?

He didn't look himself against Zhang but it was his first fight with a new trainer who he'd only been training with for 8 or 9 weeks and as I've said before I still think he was affected by the loss of his father. His behavior both during the fight and supposedly during fight week was out of character.


But he's had his band of irrational haters since at least his pro debut and don't forget how he was supposedly ducking Zhang when he pulled out after suffering one of the most traumatic things a human can endure.

But this * insert fighter's name* didn't pull out when they suffered the bereavement of a parent doe.

Yeah it doesn't work like that. Not everyone is the same and the grieving process affects different people differently and as far as I'm aware he's been training in the US by himself all this time and if so he's probably spending a lot of time by himself when not training down at the gym (either way I don't think he's with his family and loved ones) and, as said, he moved to a completely new gym just 8-9 weeks before the fight and had to try and adapt to completely new surroundings and new faces all over again. That can't be easy being on you own so far away from home as it is, let alone when you're going through something as traumatic as the loss of your father who he was reputedly extremely close to so I'm not writing him off after one subpar performance givin the circumstances.

And Zhang is a 277lb man mountain and he hits ridiculously hard, definitely one of the top 3 hardest punchers in the division IMO, and Hrgovic displayed a hell of a beard to withstand the amount of punishment he did in that fight from such a big hitter (the KD was bogus). Look at the effect a much lighter 256lb Zhang's shots had on durable gatekeeper Jerry Forrest - some of those KDs were from grazing shots.

Talented hard hitting prospect Jared Anderson might have stopped Forrest in a couple of rounds but look at how many shots it took him in quick succession to get him out of there and Forrest was still on his feet the whole time. If a 277lb Zhang had landed that many shots in quick succession on Forrest the later would still be asleep now.

And as Kalle said, a lot of the Hrgovic hype stems from people within the trade who are privy to his gym exploits sharing a ring sparring the big names

That being said, he has definitely stagnated as a pro and I don't think the trainers he's been training with have been able to get the best out of him. Personally I'd like to see hook up with someone like Shane McGuigan but I don't ever see that happening.

And it was concerning how porous his defence was against Zhang and the amount of punishment he took against him and numerous fans on social media suspected he might have suffered a concussion in that one which wouldn't surprise me at all because he took a lot of seriously heavy flush shots.

 

Pedro Diaz trained or at least had some involvement in training one of the great big men of all time in Felix Savon, but I've not really seen any noticeable improvements in Hrgovic under his tutelage and I'm not entirely sure if he's still with Ronnie Shields as I'd heard he'd gone back to Diaz.

He's blessed with the raw ingredients when it comes to physical attributes and gifts: Size, strength, power, chin, and he has a good engine and skills as well. He's not fast but he's not slow either. He does need to make improvements in certain areas if he's to stand a chance against the big boys though. I think coming from a small country like Croatia which doesn't have much of a pro scene might have hindered his development too and I know he had great difficulty securing good sparring during his amateur days.

Yeah, it's unfair to write him off based off one subpar performance given the circumstances. Many seem loathe to even admit he displayed impressive punch resistance against Zhang and wouldn't even cut him the slightest bit of slack for pulling out of the fight when it was initially scheduled either even though his reason for doing so was totally understandable.

I don't think Hughie would be a good choice of opponent for him coming off the Zhang performance. Hughie is very tough and he'll make you look bad even if you beat him

 

I'm not really the CEO of Wasserman Boxing. But I am a liar

I'm sure Diaz is a great trainer but I've not seen any noticeable improvements in Hrgovic under his tutelage. I agree with that. Hrgovic kind of has his own style so maybe they want to keep that and just make minor tweaks to him. He hits hard but I'd like them to work on his power and try and turn him from a hard puncher to a very hard/devastating one if possible.

Hughie would probably take the fight but then again Hrgovic is in that IBF mandatory position now and he's next in line for the winner of Usyk and Fury if WBA regular champ Dubois decides to decline his shot at the winner so who knows what they have planned for Hrgovic while he awaits he shot

 

Hrgovic confirming what I said I suspected about him still being badly affected by the loss of his father, being on his own and feeling lonely after having hooked up with a new trainer and moving to a new gym 8 or 9 weeks before the Zhang fight. He said his wife was the only thing which got him through it. Like I said, I could see he was still affected by losing his dad during an interview weeks before the fight.

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