CALABASAS, California \u2013 Cuba\u2019s Frank Sanchez is entrenched in position to next meet new IBF heavyweight champion Filip Hrgovic, a bout Sanchez firmly intends to win.<\/p>\n
Sanchez, 34, who trains under Canelo Alvarez\u2019s longtime cornerman Eddy Reynoso, previously elevated to mandatory contender position to former top-ranked contender Moses Itauma before striking an agreement to wait and allow Croatia\u2019s Hrgovic to fight Itauma Saturday in London.<\/p>\n
In a stunning turn of events, England\u2019s Itauma, 21, gassed out after sweeping the first eight rounds on two scorecards, and was stopped by Hrgovic in the ninth round.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrank called me during the fight to say, \u2018Lupe, I\u2019ll fight both of these guys,\u2019\u201d Sanchez\u2019s advisor Guadalupe Valencia told BoxingScene this week. \u201cHe saw that fight and knew neither of those guys can compete with him. And after the fight, he called to say, \u2018You\u2019ve gotta make that fight. I\u2019ll fight tomorrow.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Valencia said Sanchez, 26-1 (19 KOs), is determined to meet Hrgovic 21-1 (16 KOs), who has only lost to former IBF beltholder and current WBO champion Daniel Dubois. Sanchez\u2019s lone defeat is to WBC titlist Agit Kabayel.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow Frank is the mandatory for Hrgovic. We plan on enforcing it. We\u2019ve already had discussions about it. It\u2019s happening,\u201d Valencia said. \u201cThere\u2019s not going to be step-asides for no amount of money. He believes he can be world champion and wants to be world champion and [nothing] is going to interfere with that opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been fighting since he\u2019s been nine years old for this opportunity, and I believe Hrgovic is the perfect style for Frank Sanchez.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanchez is coming off a May 23 knockout of previously unbeaten U.S. Olympic silver medalist Richard Torrez Jnr.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoses wasn\u2019t strong enough to hurt Hrgovic in the first six or seven rounds. It\u2019s a completely different story with Frank Sanchez,\u201d Valencia said. \u201cFrank has speed and big power.\u201d<\/p>\n
Proof was seen in the Torrez fight, when Reynoso spotted an exact opening after the first round. Sanchez delivered the precise combination, and the fight was over.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at his fights, he hits hard and knocks guys out. You tell him how long the fight is going, and he\u2019ll be ready,\u201d Valencia said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA veteran who\u2019s been fighting his whole life, with Eddy Reynoso as his trainer. They\u2019ve worked together for seven or eight years now, and Eddy Reynoso told me when I first brought Frank to him, \u2018Lupe, I\u2019m going to make Frank champion.\u2019 And I think he\u2019s going to deliver soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hrgovic trainer Abel Sanchez told BoxiungScene this week he\u2019d prefer to let his cut champion heal and rest until the new year to fight again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever it is \u2013 he\u2019s got to get healthy and if it has to be in January, it\u2019ll be January,\u201d Valencia said. \u201cBut it definitely is the next fight, and I have every expectation Frank will be the next world champion.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Valencia spoke at a media day for his WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia, who defends his belt September 12 in Las Vegas against Conor Benn of England.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to have a heavyweight champion and a welterweight champion \u2013 the two most important divisions in boxing,\u201d Valencia said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALABASAS, California \u2013 Cuba\u2019s Frank Sanchez is entrenched in position to next meet new IBF heavyweight champion Filip…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,1920,6653,58050,30656,17735,85],"class_list":["post-880712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-boxingscene","tag-filip-hrgovic","tag-frank-sanchez","tag-moses-itauma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}