Filip Hrgovic has found an opponent for his IBF heavyweight final eliminator.
And what a fight it promises to be.
The unbeaten Croat (14-0, 12 KOs) will face old amateur foe Tony Yoka. The news was confirmed this evening by Hrgovic’s co-promoter Kalle Sauerland of Wasserman Boxing on social media.
“Tony Yoka has finally accepted tonight in writing the challenge to fight Filip Hrgovic in an IBF final eliminator for the heavyweight world championship – El Animal has found a dance partner.”
Michael Hunter, Joseph Parker and Luis Ortiz had all turned down the opportunity to face Hrgovic in what is the equivalent of a World Cup semi-final. So, Croatia will face France for an opportunity to fight Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk who is the IBF, WBO and WBA champion following his win over Anthony Joshua last year. The two men are expected to face one another once again before the Spring.
Hrgovic recently told Boxing Socialthat he expected to be back out in April. Now, we wait to see if that timeline will stay in place or if the fight against Yoka will take place later than that.
Yoka, like Hrgovic, is unbeaten in his career so far. The Frenchman’s record currently stands at 11 wins with 9 inside the distance. The 29-year-old has yet to face anyone as good as Hrgovic however. He was though due to face Martin Bakolie this weekend, but the bout was postponed due to the limits placed on the number of people attending indoor events. This ruling was put in place by the French government as they try to contain the spread of the Omicron variant.
“It seems Yoka has broke the contract to fight Martin,” Bakolie’s trainer Billy Nelson tweeted tonight.
“We are contracted to fight Yoka. We’ll see where it goes. They know we will beat him [Yoka],” he continued.
Hrgovic v Yoka will be a rematch from their encounter at the 2016 Olympic Boxing semi-final which the latter won via split decision. Yoka would go on to win gold while Hrgovic took bronze. Their amateur rivalry finished 2-1 in favour of the Parisian.