The respectful side of Filip Hrgovic didn’t really care for the comments made by his upcoming opponent.
The sinister side of ‘El Animal’, however, found the necessary motivation to make a major statement versus longshot underdog Mark De Mori.
Both heavyweights acknowledged the sincere doubt of their upcoming bout going the full ten round distance Thursday’s final pre-fight press conference. The matchup is part of an eight-fight ‘Day of Reckoning’ eight-fight Pay-Per-View event this Saturday from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the most likely to end in early and spectacularly violent fashion.
Croatia’s Hrgovic (16-0, 13KOs) is listed by various sportsbooks as a 50-1 favorite to win and preserve his IBF mandatory contender status. Australia’s De Mori (41-2-2, 36KOs) played up his underdog role and noted his only chance to win was to go straight at the hulking 6’6” heavyweight and try to break him in half.
“Let’s get down, let’s get down to business,” Hrgovic casually sang while at the dais. “Look, I was going to let him box for the first few rounds. But because of his nasty words, I will need to punish him earlier. He has some Croatian roots. I planned to be nice to him.
“But this changed everything. I need to punish this guy. I mean, really bad. Like he stole something. That’s the plan.”
Hrgovic will fight for the second time since he became the top IBF contender after an off-the-canvas, unanimous decision win over Zhilei Zhang last August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14KOs) beat Anthony Joshua for the second straight time in the main event that evening to defend his WBA, IBF and WBO titles.
Usyk has since faced and defeated WBA ‘Regular’ titlist Daniel Dubois (who faces Jarrell Miller on Saturday’s show) in their August 26 title consolidation bout in Wroclaw, Poland. He next faces lineal/WBC champion Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24KOs) for the undisputed crown on February 17 in Riyadh.
While Hrgovic expects to either face the winner or fight for the vacant title, his team made the wise decision to secure stay-busy fights. A victory in a fight he’s fully expected to win was never going to be enough, however.
“I’m going for the win on Saturday and look forward to lots of big fights in front of me,” stated Hrgovic. “It’s personal now.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. X (formerly Twitter): @JakeNDaBox