{"id":815441,"date":"2026-10-27T12:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T12:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/815441\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T12:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T12:30:08","slug":"filip-hrgovic-close-to-agreeing-first-world-title-defence-against-big-puncher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/815441\/","title":{"rendered":"Filip Hrgovic close to agreeing first world title defence against ‘big puncher’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filip Hrgovic<\/a> is set to defend his IBF title in the first quarter of 2027, taking on a formidable puncher in his home city of Zagreb, Croatia.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old became his country\u2019s first ever world heavyweight champion in August, pulling off a sizable upset against the highly-touted Moses Itauma.<\/p>\n

For the first eight rounds, victory appeared to be slipping through his fingers as Itauma \u2013 the faster and more athletically-gifted operator \u2013 had scored a second-round knockdown and was generally dominating their contest.<\/p>\n

In a stunning turn of events, however, Hrgovic took advantage of the 21-year-old\u2019s exhaustion and scored a ninth-round stoppage on away soil<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As for his next assignment, the Croatian is looking to stage a homecoming early next year and, more than likely, it will be mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez standing in the opposite corner.<\/p>\n

The Cuban comes off an emphatic second-round finish over Richard Torrez Jr in May, with his only defeat arriving via a seventh-round knockout against Agit Kabayel in 2024.<\/p>\n

Speaking with Sky Sports<\/a>, the 34-year-old\u2019s manager, Mike Borao, said he expects Sanchez to face Hrgovic in the Croatian capital early next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect Frank Sanchez versus Filip Hrgovic to take place in the first quarter of 2027, perhaps in Zagreb, but too early to know for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borao added that he has spoken extensively with Queensberry Promotions\u2019 George Warren, while Hrgovic recently told DAZN<\/a> that nothing is set in stone but acknowledges the mandatory order.<\/p>\n

\u201cSanchez is a good fighter \u2013 big puncher. [He\u2019s] my mandatory challenger, so maybe that fight is possible to be in Croatia next. We need to see what\u2019s going to happen next with my promoter [and] my manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe that fight is next, or maybe a unification \u2013 we still don\u2019t know. But [Sanchez is] a good puncher.\u201d<\/p>\n

While his preference would, of course, be a unification match with either Kabayel or Daniel Dubois, it does seem likely that Hrgovic\u2019s next outing will be against Sanchez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Filip Hrgovic is set to defend his IBF title in the first quarter of 2027, taking on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-815441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}