Exclusive: Undefeated Croat heavyweight ready to face Tyson Fury next
- Joe Hewlett
- 19 January 2022
Filip Hrgovic is currently undefeated from 14 bouts, winning 12 of them inside the distance.
Kalle Sauerland has revealed Filip Hrgovic would take a fight against Tyson Fury with 'open arms' if given the opportunity.
Hrgovic has endured a frustrating month with fights against Luis Ortiz, Charles Martin and Joseph Parker failing to come to fruition.
However, it is now expected "El Animal" will take on Tony Yoka after the Frenchman accepted the deadline to face him in an IBF title eliminator.
The winner will become the new mandatory for the IBF belt, which currently belongs to Ukraine's southpaw Oleksandr Usyk.
Yoka is most famous for winning gold at super heavyweight in the 2020 Olympics, overcoming Joe Joyce in the final although it was a controversial result.
The 29-year-old is undefeated from 11 bouts with nine of the wins coming inside the distance while Hrgovic is 14-0 with 12 knockouts.
WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte - his mandatory challenger - are yet to agree on terms for a showdown in 2022. The WBC set a deadline of January 11 only for it to be pushed back twice and a new date is now January 21.
Should a fight between the pair not happen, Sauerland, Hrgovic's co-promoter, is more than happy to put the 29-year-old in with Fury.
"We'd take the fight tomorrow with open arms jumping around the room but that's not going to happen is it? I don't think anyone would want to take it, in boxing it's a high risk with a low reward that's the issue," Sauerland exclusively told Planet Sport.
"We're not going to wait for a no voluntary, we're not going to get a Christmas gift and if we do, fantastic. We are here willing and able to open those presents but currently, that isn't going to happen.
"From my experience of promoting a number of heavyweight world champions during the last couple of decades is you've got to make them and force them. We have to go through the mandatory position and that's why we've gone with the IBF down the mandatory route."
Common ground needed for Fury vs Whyte
Speaking about the possibility of Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte, Kalle Sauerland believes they need to come to a sensible solution.
"There must be a common ground. They were talking about Andy Ruiz Jr and Robert Helenius also being mentioned but I think everyone would like to see Tyson [Fury] take on Dillian [Whyte]," Sauerland said.
"But at the same time, the people around Dillian will also want to make money and at the end of the day, Dillian will say to himself I've waited a long time for this shot, I want to be paid in a certain way.
"But once again, in a mandatory situation it's very different to a voluntary where you can say £10million, £20million - you probably won't get the fight then but you can say what the hell you want."
Bob Arum - Fury's American promoter - is ready to move on from Whyte if a deal is unable to be made in the coming days.
"If Dillian Whyte is not gonna fight for whatever reason, obviously we're not gonna keep Tyson Fury - not gonna make him pay the price of waiting."
"Fury wants to fight and wants to fight sooner rather than later. We can look around, get a good, decent opponent for him to fight if Whyte isn't available.
"You've got guys like Robert Helenius and Manuel Charr. You just look at the rankings and pick a couple of guys from the rankings who would make decent opponents."
