Hrgovic will fight soon, the main candidates are Bakole and Zhang...

"Soon" by Hrgovic's standards means middle of next year.

He should fight Jalalovic in the battle of the underachievers.

 

When there's something to gain there is always something to lose.

I hope Zhang retires because at this point he is deadwood. His stamina vs Hrgovic vs now is like night and day. Needs to jack it in but will probably keep going for money.

 

With Hrgovic there is always this air of entitlement with the guy. He really hasn’t done all that much.

 

I don't know, wasn't that always the problem?

When he was sitting on that mandatory for so long...
Was it confidence in himself and belief in his ability that made him sit around not getting involved?

Surely if he believed in himself, he wouldn't have put his career in the hands of a sanctioning org finally giving him his shot - orgs haven't exactly been expedient in pushing those through...
If he believed, wouldn't he have been out there making at least semi-decent fights and expecting to win them, instead of De Mori and McKean, which shouldn't even have counted as tuneups (and yet McKean almost took him the distance)?

Something doesn't add up somewhere...

 

I really doubt it. Both Bakole and Zhang have just fought so can't see them fighting again within the next 6 months given how fighters seem to fight twice per year now.

Bakole may have an IBF eliminator with Ajagba still, so don't see him fighting Hrgovic. They've tried to make this fight before but it never materialised, don't see why anything has changed especially with both coming off losses.

The Hrgovic/Zhang rematch makes sense, but given how long Zhang took to decide if he wanted to rematch Parker or not, I doubt we'll see Zhang agree a rematch anytime soon. Maybe it does happen as it's a more winnable rematch for Zhang than Parker but it won't be until the autumn or winter.

If Hrgovic is too fight soon, it will likely be against a no name heavy or one with every little name recognition.

 

Idk...

In this case, fight and lose or don't fight at all are practically indistinguishable - when the consequences of going for it are that you're not worse off than if you did nothing, I would say "nothing to lose" makes sense...
And of course, there's a gain if he wins and no gain if he doesn't fight.

Zhang's been a bit of a paper tiger for a while - he clearly hits bloody hard, but the guys he's beaten have been overhyped and with major flaws (Joyce's lack of speed and defensive skills, Wilders mediocre chin and limited fundamentals)...
It's impressive for a guy who didn't really get properly started as a pro until he was in his very late 30's, no question - but would he have ever beaten the legit contenders? I don't think so, not without a big slice of luck.

As you say, it probably makes sense for him to retire... Then again, there's no real legacy to ruin and he can still be entertaining and make stacks of cash - so I suspect you're right that he'll continue.

 

If he's going to come back, he should dedicate himself to being better. If its the same old, then they should not give him big fights.

 

Looks like that's what happened. Dan Rafael said the IBF is looking for the next available contender for an eliminator. Bakole's out.

Checking out the IBF ratings (before Bakole's loss), the top available contenders would be Frank Sanchez (who already beat Ajagba), Joshua and ... drumroll ... Filip Hrgovic.

Crazy. I don't know if I'd take Ajagba over any of them, honestly.

Seems like a quick way to get right back in the title hunt for Sanchez, Joshua and Hrgovic.

All of a sudden, Frank Sanchez's lone loss (via body shots) to the current WBC "interim" champ doesn't seem as big of a deal.

 

Chisora vs Wallin was supposed to be the second eliminator, so maybe the old Del Boy will get his shot...