By Allan Fox: Heavyweight contender Filip Hrgovic (11-0, 9 KOs) destroyed his replacement opponent, 39-year-old Alexandre Kartozia (8-2-1, 7 KOs) by an ugly 2nd round knockout in a scheduled eight-round fight last Saturday night at the Struer Arena, in Struer, Denmark.
After a slow, uneventful first round, the 2016 Olympian Hrgovic flattened Greek fighter Kartozia with a right hand to the head in the 2nd.
The 6’6″ Hrgovic trapped Kartozia against the ropes and nailed him with a right cross to the side of the head. Kartozia collapsed on the canvas with his head partially hanging outside of the ring. He looked severely hurt, and the referee Freddy Rafn stopped the rather than giving a count as we saw with the first Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury match in 2018.
Hrgovic needs to face better opposition
The time of the stoppage was at 1:04 of round two. Hrgovic is ranked #6 IBF, #7 WBC, 15 WBO in the division, but he’s not progressing the way you would like to see for a fighter his age and with his amateur credentials. At 28-year-old Hrgovic is trailing Anthony Joshua badly, and many other Olympians have taken their careers.
Hrgovic isn’t gaining anything by fighting the level of opposition that he’s been facing. He’s just wasting time and his youth. At this pace, Hrgoivic will be in his 30s by the time he eventually gets a title shot, and he’ll likely have missed out on getting a fight against the likes Joshua and Tyson Fury while they were both in their primes.
In Hrgovic’s last five fights, he’s beaten these guys:
- Alexandre Kartozia [39-years-old]
- Eric Molina [38-years]
- Mario Heredia
- Gregory Corbin [39-years-old]
- Kevin Johnson [41-years-old]
- Amir Mansour [48-years-old]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbS4qeFkkEQ
Hrgovic should be getting moved a lot fast than he’s been, and he’s not going to taking advantage of his time the way that he needs to. At this point, Hrgovic should be fighting guys like Michael Hunter, Sergey Kuzmin, Charles Martin, Efe Ajagba, Joe Joyce, and Tony Yoka.
Yoka beat Hrgovic in the 2016 Olympics, and a lot of boxing fans would like to see these two guys get back in the ring for a rematch. It would be a toss-up picking which one comes out as the winner, as Yoka hasn’t looked that good as a professional. His career is also moving at a snail’s pace.
Is this as good as it gets for Hrgovic?
Hrgovic, who’s nickname is “Stone Man,’ he’s someone that is probably about as good as he’s ever going to be. He’s someone that slowly walks forward, standing straight up without bending at the waist, and he throws nothing but power shots.
With Hrgovic’s size and strength, he’ll be able to knock out most of the guys he faces in the division. But, when Hrgovic meets up with a complete heavyweight capable of jabbing, moving, an defending, he’s going to have to have problems.
We saw that front and center when Yoka outboxed Hrgovic in the 2016 Olympics. Now four years later, Hrgovic has shown no signs of improvement in his game. He’s still the same plodder that he was when he fought in the Olympics four years ago.
With the way Hrgovic fights, there’s no point in his handlers moving him at a glacial pace the way they’ve been doing. He’s not improving with his game, and if anything, he’s now resembling his nickname “Stone Man” even more.
They need to put Hrgovic in with fighters that are mobile because he’s going to be dealing with those types of heavyweights one of these days. It’s better for Hrgovic to fight that type of opposition now rather than waiting until his mid-30s, which is probably when his management finally moves up against A-level opposition.