After Scoring A Huge TKO To Become The IBF Heavyweight Champion, Who is Next For Filip Hrgovic?

Make FightsATW Your Preferred Combat Sports Source

Enjoy our boxing and wrestling coverage? Add Fights Around The World as a Preferred Source on Google so our latest stories can show up more often in your Top Stories.

Add FightsATW on Google

What is next for Filip Hrgovic?

Hrgovic (21-1, 16 KOs) recorded the biggest win of his career and tore up the script for the boxing world by stopping unbeaten Moses Itauma in the ninth round of their pay-per-view clash in the U.K.

Hrgovic’s career up until this point has always been the bridesmaid, never the bride. A series of close calls, with toughness, power, and durability as his strengths, but vulnerabilities such as getting hit clean in his biggest fights against “Big Bang” Zhang and Daniel Dubois. The 34-year-old Croatian was not to be denied as he let Itauma tire himself out and would put it on him late to shock the world.

Let’s look at some of the compelling fights he could be in the future.

Agit Kabayel

Kabayel looks the part of the best heavyweight in the world. Yes, he isn’t a household name, but his wins are aging well, and he has earned his spot atop the division. A fight between Hrgovic and Kabayel is a uniquely European clash that could crown the best heavyweight in 2026 (with Usyk looking to be done very soon).

Daniel Dubois

Dubois stopped him in 2024, which changed the course of his career. Dubois has done the great-fighter thing, reinventing himself over and over again. Hrgovic could roll the dice and fight Dubois to avenge his loss and really cement himself as a top guy of the era.

Murat Gassiev

Gassiev holds a form of a title and is extremely vulnerable. If the goal is to collect belts and obtain the most money possible, this could be a great option. Gassiev brings some risk, but Hrgovic should be confident and closer to his prime, and he should be able to defeat Gassiev and put himself in position to become a unique star of this era of heavyweight boxing.

Oleksandr Usyk

It might seem crazy, but why not? Usyk probably has one fight left. Why not try to fight the best of this era? Usyk should decline in his last fight; if he can land the fight, you have to take it, right? It is a no-brainer.

Deontay Wilder

I really don’t like the fight, but Wilder is hanging around and will land a fight or two out the door. This seems like a big-name opponent who could serve as a Croatian homecoming bout.