By John “Gutterdandy” Walker
Promising Croatian heavyweight career stalled Filip Hrgovic of Croatia took another unfortunate turn today, as the towering warrior withdraw from the IBF Removal Kit with China’s Zhang Zhilei scheduled for the lower card of Canelo Alvarez with Dimitry Bivol Pay-Per-View Clash at T-Mobile Arena this Saturday in Las Vegas.
Hrgovic is super tall (14-0, 12 KOs), usually known as the most shunned fighter in boxing, went through a list of top heavyweights who, for one reason or another, all decided to forgo a shot in the IBF qualifying that would put the winner in position to take the title. with the winner of the upcoming rematch between the former champion Anthony Joshua of Great Britain and current unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine.
The fight will pit 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Hrgovic, 29, against 2008 Olympic silver medalist Zhang, 39, and the Croatian heavyweight boxer expressed his joy glad Zhang is ready to knock him out. Now, however, Hrgovic has returned to the twilight zone of boxing, as Zhang (23-0-1, 18 KOs), unenthusiastic about the idea of wasting an entire training camp, looks for a ready-made boxer. ready to participate for the Croatian tennis player.
There are still unconfirmed rumors that Hrgovic’s father passed away in early April and the boxer was unable to concentrate on training camp to satisfaction, leading to a very late withdrawal from the upcoming bout. . IBF rules state that the knockout must be rescheduled at a later date, but the boxing organizer Eddie Hearn are now looking to satisfy Zhang’s desire to fight on Saturday by securing a last-minute replacement for Hrgovic.
