With Filip Hrgovic v Michael Hunter seemingly dead in the water there may be an opportunity for Joseph Parker to step in and replace the American.
Hrgovic v Hunter had been called as an IBF heavyweight title final eliminator with the winner to move on and face Anthony Joshua in the future. The deadline for the deal to be signed is this week but it looks like the American has decided to move on to pastures new. And in the new IBF rankings released recently Hunter has lost his number four position to the Croat and dropped all the way down to eleven.
“Hrgovic has signed,” Hrgovic’s co-promoter Kalle Sauerland told Sky Sports. “We’ve signed on behalf of Hrgovic as well. The promoter and the boxer needs to sign. That’s all done.
“Our paperwork is in. Maybe he’s [Hunter] looking for a pen, maybe the scanner isn’t working? But that contract has not been signed.
“At the moment, he doesn’t seem to want the fight. If he didn’t want the fight, I don’t know why he’s put us through two months of negotiations and purse bids.”
Hrgovic’s plans for a shot at the IBF title remain the same, but who will be in the opposite corner for the final eliminator? Despite suffering an elbow injury in his recent win against Dereck Chisora, Joseph Parker could step in if the offer is right according to his manager David Higgins.
“It depends what the offer is,” Higgins told Sky Sports. “It’s [Hrgovic fight] something that we as a team would have to discuss and weigh up the risks and returns.
“He [Parker] would genuinely face anyone, anywhere, if it’s the right opportunity and the right time.
“An offer has to be put on the table for it to be considered.”
Main Image: Mark Robinson