Hrgovic on Usyk - "Usyk is the best boxer in the world right now - but I will cause him problems"

"Usyk is a great, future Hall of Fame boxer. He is the best boxer in the world right now; he is fast, has very good footwork, is very physically prepared and throws a lot of punches. I think, however, that my style would cause him problems because I am bigger than him and I can also throw a lot of punches. I think I can cause him a lot of problems, for my size I'm fast enough to fight him.

If you look at his fight with Joshua for example, every time Joshua would put pressure on him and punching him to the body, he would have won the round, but Joshua didn't have the stamina to keep up that pace. It was the same with Derek Chisora, when he did the pressure, he won the rounds, and I think I'm more durable than both Chisora and Joshua, I can throw more punches and give Usyk more problems. I showed how many punches I can throw in the match with Zhilei Zhang when, even at my worst performance, I threw more than 700 punches, which is a lot for a heavyweight. I would like the fight with Usyk to happen , I believe I can beat him. It would, of course, be a very difficult fight, he is an excellent boxer, but I am convinced that I can give him a very, very good match," Hrgović explained, then recalled his last performance:

"We all underestimated Zhang, but he showed in his fights against me and Joyce that he is an elite heavyweight and the 'real deal'. In that fight, I learned that if I can beat him at his worst - then I can beat anyone when I'm at 100% . I made some mistakes, both technical and tactical, but I learned a lot in that match and learned what I actually knew before, which is that no one can knock me out. Like I said, on my worst night, in the most difficult period of my life, I beat such a good fighter. At my 100%, I can beat anyone in the world."

• When asked who are the current top 3 fighters and would he consider himself in there he said - "Usyk, Fury and probably Wilder" / "No, I have done nothing to place myself that high in the rankings, but I will, ask me in a year".
• Interview:
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Man he is there since 26, and cant catch a break, look at Jared Anderson, 22, beat nobody and he is ranked higher than Hrgovic, and the world is talking about him, perks of being american.

 

I hope this autumn/early winter we see real fights. At least UFC has one Miocic-Jhones.

 

At his worst performance he took sveral straight lefts from Zhang that could have K.O. 99% of the top 50 heavyweights, look what he did to Joyce, former number 3. You could make the case that on another night he could have K.O. Zhang aswell. But no use arguing with chinese bot. Judges are corrupt, all three of them, and Zhang won.

On Usyk front, if that fight happens, Hrgovic would have fought 2 consecutive southpaws - Zhang (that can K.O.) McKean (that can K.O.), also in a match with Zhang he proved he has maybe the best chin in top 10, and has stamina for 12 rounds (700+ punches). Also he has knowledge of AJ-Usyk fight, two of them.

Now with all that, he comes against opponent that is smaller than him, cant K.O. him, knows his advantages (outboxing), has experience against soutpaws, has technique, has chin, has stamina (all better than Joshua who almost got K.O. by Usyk in 1. fight). And with all that he has Klitcho style. I would see trouble there.

 

You forgot one thing, both Hrgovic and Zhang are real heavyweights, olympians and dwarf Usky in size and power, so did Joshua, but difference is - both hit stronger than Joshua, both have better Chin than Joshua and both are hungry to get the belt. Actually, we will see the way Dubois-Usyk goes through. Unlike Joshua, Dubois will take Chisora approach and not box Usyk, he will fight him, if he endures that easily, then not only Hrgovic and Zhang have problems as next mandatories, everyone will have problem with that guy. No wonder Fury ducked him.