The talk outside of the ring can often have a big impact on who does and doesn’t end up fighting each other but one heavyweight has claimed that his call out of Filip Hrgovic has fallen on deaf ears, saying that the Croatian ‘went silent’.
Hrgovic has long been trying to work his way up the ranks. He most recently brushed aside the unheralded Mark De Mori in Saudi Arabia on the Day of Reckoning card, and before that got what some saw as a contentious decision over Chinese star Zhilei Zhang.
Since December it has strongly been rumoured that he could end up being called to fight for the vacant IBF title that is thought likely to be immediately stripped from the winner of the undisputed fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
One man to have allegedly thrown his name into the mix to fight Hrgovic is Jarrell Miller. The unpopular American was beaten on the same Day of Reckoning card by a resurgent Daniel Dubois and stopped with seconds to go of the 10th round.
Since then he has been arrested and bailed back home in the States but has now taken to X to claim Hrgovic has ignored his challenges.
In response to Mike Coppinger reporting that Hrgovic, the IBF’s mandatory challenger, “says he’s ready to fight Joseph Parker on March 8 in Riyadh on the Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou undercard” ‘Big Baby replied with his claim.
“But when I say something he went silent”
At this point, Miller will have to work hard to get back into contention for the big fights he wants, while Hrgovic versus Parker is a solid fight between two top contenders.