Filip Hrgovic felt the need to let off some steam.
The Croatian heavyweight contender lambasted promoter Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions in an interview that was conducted after one of Warren’s top fighters, heavyweight Joe Joyce, got stopped in the sixth round by Chinese underdog Zhilei Zhang.
Warren had spoken critically of Hrgovic after the Croatian won what many felt was a shaky unanimous decision over Zhang last August. During the fight, Hrgovic also suffered a knockdown, albeit of the flash variety. Hrgovic is co-promoted by Wasserman and Matchroom.
The win over Zhang helped Hrgovic keep a lock on his status as a mandatory challenger to the IBF belt, which is held by Oleksandr Usyk, who also holds the WBA and WBO titles—but it did little to reinforce his reputation as the “bogeyman” of the heavyweight division. Hrgovic has long claimed that he was not in the right mental state going into the Zhang fight because his father had passed away during training camp.
Hrgovic, who has called for a rematch with Zhang, couldn’t resist ridiculing Warren.
The 30-year-old also claims he laid a beating on Daniel Dubois, another heavyweight that Warren handles. And given that Zhang, a fighter that Hrgovic beat, has now defeated Joyce, Hrgovic feels he has some bragging rights over Warren and his promotional roster.
“I just want to say Frank Warren was telling a lot of sh!t after my fight with Zhang,” Hrgovic told iFL TV. “He talked lot of sh!t. What he can tell me now? I destroyed Daniel Dubois in sparring and now his fighter got beat by the fighter that I beat. What he want to say right now?
“I want to ask him one question, why he producing only the hype jobs? If you can forward him this question. Frank, you ask why I was considered a bogeyman, so now you see why I was considered bogeyman because I beat on my worst night Zhang and he came to London and destroyed your fighter in six rounds. That’s why I was considered a bogeyman.”
Sean Nam is the author of the forthcoming book Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.