I'm a bit apprehensive about the Itauma vs. Hrgovic fight.

Nothing in boxing can be blindly accepted as on the up and up.

 

Hrgovic is easily better than Whyte. This is nonsense

 

Nah - Hrgovic is just too average at too many things, but not great at anything except absorbing punches... Which means he'll often look somewhat competitive, whilst losing almost every time against contenders.

Whyte in his prime was significantly better.

 

He has an extremely high work rate and good accuracy. He hasn't lost to any contenders except Dubois and I would rate the win over Zhang beyond anything Wilder ever did.

There's nothing whatsoever to back up the idea that any run of the mill top 10 heavyweight beats Hrgovic. Ortiz was a long time top 10 heavyweight and I would certainly favor him over Ortiz. Same with Whyte.

 

In what aspects?

 

yeah dillian whyte was a lot better than hrgovic at examining the canvas up close every fight, admiring the craftsmanship of the floor

 

That did make me chuckle.

In all seriousness though, while Whyte had a brief window of glory it was rather shortlived. Hrgovic is still in the mix, even if he is rather underwhelming.

 

Whyte was always a plodder, but a seriously dangerous one. He's beaten fighters that Hrgovic certainly couldn't. Clearly a far superior talent and career than the Croatian jackass.

 

I'd agree with your first two sentences. Simply two different styles. Whyte on peds was seriously good.

Hrgovic has many strenghts whyte doesnt have though and would beat different opponents.

Overall I would say hrgovic now is in a similar position as whyte back then relative to the current field.

Potentially he could beat the top dogs, as back then potentially Whyte could have. I don't think the idea of Whyte beating joshua or wilder when he was #4 is so outlandish. Fury is more unlikely. Same with hrgovic. But he would have to have a good night with less headbutts than dubois was allowed to dish out.

 

Hrgovic is technically better and has a better chin than Whyte.

Style wise? I could see prime Whyte beating Hrgovic.

 

Power is the obvious one - Whyte could bang, where Hrgovic doesn't.

As an overall package, Whyte could get the job done with power or on cards better than Hrgovic could... Hrgovic wouldn't have been able to knock Parker down or be competitive with him on cards - Whyte did knock him down and did beat him on the cards.

Sometimes a fighter is greater than the sum of their parts - and sometimes they're lesser than the sum of their weaknesses...

Whyte had plenty of flaws, but what was good added up to an effective contender.
Hrgovic is decent at a lot, but his powerpuff punch power and terrible gas tank make for a fighter who is less than we might've thought he could be.

 

Completely agree - Hrgovic has the better chin and is technically much tidier.

But.

Whyte had way more power than Hrgovic... Fight winning power, something Hrgovic does not have.

And both style wise and effectiveness wise - I can see Whyte beating Hrgovic... I cannot see Hrgovic beating Whyte - doesn't have the power or stamina.

The problem with Hrgovic is a lot of posters see a fighter with a great chin who's fairly tidy and rate them highly...
And while they're not wrong in what they're seeing, Hrgovic isn't a good points fighter despite being very difficult to stop and technically decent - because his stamina is awful.

This is why I keep mentioning "paths to victory" - Hrgovic is decent all around, but he's not winning on cards against anyone who's not terrible on cards, and he lacks the power to stop anyone in the top bracket either... Which leaves him with no way to win contender fights.

And there's the difference - Whyte may have been worse on plenty of metrics... But he could (and did) win against contenders because he had power and could find ways to use it.


Too good for journeymen or over less rounds, but not good enough to beat the top guys (even if he makes it difficult for a while)... That's a gatekeeper - and that's respectable enough, given how few ever get that far, and even fewer beyond.

 

It will tell us plenty about both of them.