On August 20, in Jeddah, on the undercard of the Joshua vs. Usyk II fight, boxing fans will see an IBF heavyweight eliminator between the bronze medalist of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio Filip Hrgovic (14-0, 12 KOs) and Olympic vice-champion of Beijing 2008 Zhang Zhilei (24-0-1, 19 KOs). The Croat dedicates the upcoming confrontation to his recently deceased father.
“All previous professional fights were easy for me. Zhilei is the first big challenge: big, strong, and a top-level left-hander. Every southpaw fight is a kind of problem, but not too big for me. You just need to prepare tactically differently. I deal well with southpaws, although it was difficult to find good sparring partners for the fight with Zhilei, ”said Hrgovic.
“Usyk’s rematch with Joshua is a great fight, and if I win the eliminator, I can talk about a championship fight with a Ukrainian or a Brit. Right now I'm focused on training in Houston with my new coach Ronnie Shields. He is a great mentor, he has a different philosophy than my previous coach Pedro Diaz and the relationship between us is improving. After this camp, I will be a different fighter,” Hrgovic added.
“The death of my father, which was the reason for the postponement of the fight with Zhilei, originally scheduled for May, changed my life. The last two months have been very difficult for me. It is still not easy for me, I think about my father all the time. He wanted me to continue my career and win, be a fighter. I can't stop now and the thought of my father motivates me. I have to win and then become world champion. I will do this for my father and my family. I have never been as motivated as I am now. It is not easy for me to train, but I will do my best to defeat Zhilei. I think I will put my emotions aside and you will see my best version. I will try to get a knockout, I have huge strength in my fists, but I will also box neatly and skillfully. You need to be careful, and at the same time act quickly and aggressively,” the charismatic Croat summed up.
