By Dan Ambrose: 2016 super heavyweight Olympian Filip Hrgovic (3-0, 3 KOs) stayed unbeaten in stopping 30-year-old journeyman Tom Little (10-5, 3 KOs) in the 4th round on Saturday night on the undercard of the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Mairis Briedis card at the Arena Riga, in Riga, Latvia.
The 25-year-old Hrgovic staggered Little with a hard right hand to the head in the 4th round. Hrgovic then unloaded with several big shots that led to the referee Daniel Van de Wiele stepping in to stop the contest. It was a good stoppage. Little was too hurt to last much longer with the 6’6” Hrgovic unloading on him.
There wasn’t much of variation with Hrgovic in the fight. He was essentially throwing nonstop combinations in each of the first 3 rounds. Hrgovic was just trying to knock Little out without mixing up his shots. The fight looked more like one of those tough man contests in which the two fighters unload on each other.
Hrgovic would get nailed every once in a while, by Little, who clearly was the bigger puncher of the two. Hrgovic is a decent puncher, but he didn’t have the same pop in his shots that the journeyman little possessed. Little caught Hrgovic with a right hand in the 3rd round that appeared to hurt him. Hrgovic stumbled backwards after taking the shot. Luckily for Hrgovic, Little missed some of his follow up shots, as they had knockout written all over them.
All in all, Hrgovic wasn’t very impressive. He’s not a big puncher, and he fights in a primitive style that will get him hurt at the heavyweight level once he faces someone with power. Hrgovic’s defensive skills are nonexistent. He just tries to knockout his opponents with volume punching, which will only work against guys with no power. I can’t see Hrgovic going anywhere in the heavyweight division unless he develops some power, and learns how to defend better. He also needs to box more, because he’s going to get run down if he faces a good heavyweight that can take advantage of his face first attacking style. Hrgovic looks like a project at this point. For an Olympian, he’s very green with a lot of bad habits. He needs to have his entire game remade if he wants to go anywhere in the division. I can’t see that happening though. I see Hrgovic going nowhere fast.
Cruiserweight Mikael Lawal (5-0, 3 KOs) defeated Istvan Orsos (16-44-2, 5 KOs) by a 6 round decision in other action on the card tonight. The fight was not competitive in the slightest. Lawal looked good, but he was facing a poor opponent.
Heavyweight contender Otto Wallin (19-0, 13 KOs) defeated Srdan Govedarica (6-6, 5 KOs) by a 3rd round knockout. Wallin, 27, knocked Govedarica down in the 2nd round. In the 3rd, Wallin finished the 28-year-old Govedarica off with a shot to the midsection. Wallin needs to step it up at this point in his career, as he’s ranked in the top 15 at heavyweight and yet he’s still facing novice fighters for some reason. At 27, Wallin should at least be fighting 2nd tier fighters instead of novice fighters.