Filip Hrgovic has secured an opponent for the unbeaten heavyweight’s slot on the Anthony Joshua-Otto Wallin undercard December 23.
BoxingScene.com has learned that the Croatian contender will square off against Australia’s Mark De Mori as part of a stacked card that night at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A press conference to officially announce the December 23 card is scheduled for Wednesday at OVO Arena Wembley in London.
The 6-foot-6, 243-pound Hrgovic (16-0, 13 KOs) is the IBF’s number one contender for one of unified champion Oleksander Usyk’s crowns. Hrgovic is trying to stay active because he might not get his shot at the IBF belt for quite some time.
Ukraine’s Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) is committed to fighting Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) in a heavyweight championship unification clash February 17 at Kingdom Arena. The Fury-Usyk bout will be officially announced at another press conference Thursday at Wembley Stadium in London.
Hrgovic, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, most recently stopped another Australian, Demsey McKean, in the 12th round of their August 12 bout at O2 Arena. Hrgovic scored a knockdown against the previously unbeaten McKean (22-1, 14 KOs) in the final round before referee Marcus McDonnell halted action 1:01 into the 12th round.
Hrgovic, 31, will be heavily favored to defeat De Mori next month.
De Mori (41-2-2, 36 KOs) is 41 years old, but he has won 11 fights in a row, 10 by knockout or technical knockout, since his first-round TKO loss to David Haye in January 2016 at O2 Arena in London. Hrgovic, however, will represent a significant step up in opposition for De Mori since he fought the retired Haye (28-4, 26 KOs), a former cruiserweight and heavyweight champion.
In addition to the 12-round main event between England’s Joshua (26-3, 23 KOs) and Sweden’s Wallin (26-1, 14 KOs, 1 NC), former WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs) will oppose ex-WBO champ Joseph Parker (33-3, 23 KOs) in the 12-round co-feature December 23 in Riyadh.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.