Filip Hrgovic vs. Kevin Johnson - December 8, 2018

[Ruthless-RKO]

Filip Hrgovic (6-0, 5 KOs) continues his World title charge on December 8 as the Croatian boxing sensation defends his WBC International title against Ecuador’s Ytalo Perea (11-3-2, 7 KOs) at the KC Dražen Petrovic in Zagreb.

Hrgovic secured the WBC International belt with a spectacular third-round stoppage win over Amir Mansour on September 8 at the Arena Zagreb, and the Rio 2016 Olympic Bronze Medallist has vowed to deliver another impressive performance as he returns to the Croatian capital for his maiden defence.

"I am pleased to have my next opponent confirmed,” said Hrgovic. “Perea is a good boxer with a strong amateur pedigree and I expect him to provide a tough test. He's shared the ring with some good boxers and he’s never been stopped.

“I look forward to the challenge and I look forward to fighting again in Zagreb. With the support of the Croatian people, I believe I will reach the top of the heavyweight division, and I promise to deliver them another entertaining fight and a great victory on December 8 at the KC Dražen Petrovi?."

Perea claimed gold at the 2011 Pan American games and defeated Dominic Breazeale and Simon Kean on his way to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics where he lost out to the Beijing 2008 Gold Medallist Roberto Cammarelle.

In the professional ranks, Perea has recorded eleven victories including seven knockouts, and has gone the distance with former World Champion Guillermo Jones and highly-rated Polish heavyweight Adam Kownacki.

“I am excited to come to Croatia to fight Filip Hrgovic,” said Perea. “I have travelled the world fighting as an amateur so I have no fear facing him in his backyard. I have watched his fights and I know he’s a good boxer, but I’m confident I will win. He has never fought anyone like me before!”

Zeljko Karajica, CEO of 7Sports, the sports unit of the ProSiebenSat.1 Group and Managing Director of the operating event agency MMP Event GmbH, says fans should expect a ‘spectacular’ fight between the warring heavyweights.

“We’re delighted to announce Filip Hrgovic versus Ytalo Perea for the WBC International title,” said Karajica. “This promises to be a spectacular contest and a great main event for our fight night at the KC Dražen Petrovi?”

Promoter Nisse Sauerland, of Team Sauerland, says he believes Perea can provide a stern test and an important victory for Hrgovic as he looks to manoeuvre his heavyweight hope into World title contention.

“This will be another good step up for Filip,” said Sauerland. “Perea has an impressive amateur pedigree and has proven he can mix it at a high level as a professional. Filip is currently ranked top twenty with the WBC, WBO and WBA, and a victory on December 8 will further boost his World title credentials.”

The WBC International Heavyweight Championship contest between Filip Hrgovi? and Ytalo Perea will top an action-packed fight card at the KC Dražen Petrovic on December 8 with a full undercard set to be announced.

Tickets start from 150 KN and are available online via www.eventim.hr. All the action will be broadcast live and exclusive on RTL in Croatia.

[jamamb]

pereas best results are a draw with joey dawjeko and a sd loss to guillermo jones. he did ktfo simon kean in the amateurs too, although maybe thats not so impressive

[Ruthless-RKO]

pereas best results are a draw with joey dawjeko and a sd loss to guillermo jones. he did ktfo simon kean in the amateurs too, although maybe thats not so impressive

He beat Breazeale too in the ams.

Not a bad fight for Hrgovic though, at this stage.

Joyce should be fighting similar.

[jamamb]

perea should at least be good for rounds i imagine

5 fights for hrgoviv in 2018, with the mansour win. pretty good progress. next year he should look to fight another recognizable name in the first half of the year

[pound per pound]

Do you think Hrgovic is ahead of where Joshua was after 6 professional fights? I do. We could be watching a future heavyweight champion of the world.

[dagilechia]

Hrgovic obviously fought better opponents than AJ did at the early stage of his career, though AJ literally destroyed everyone he's faced, Hrgovic already had some small problems like vs Tom Little when he got hit too much and was even a bit rocked once.

[sweetviolenturge]

Hrgovic is mixing with just the right level of opponents at this stage of his career. He's doing it right.
The fact that a seasoned 10-4 pro in Little gave Hrgovic a couple of things to think about is a good thing IMO. It means that he's learning on the job & facing small doses of adversity early on. Which will quickly prepare him for world-class opposition in the next couple of fights.
Perea is another good test for Hrgovic to learn from. He's been in with contenders & rugged journeymen which should enable us to gauge where Hrgovic is at this stage. Should he struggle in any way then I'd say that a handful more fights vs fringe contenders & tough veterans will be in order but if he holds to recent form then he should win handily & be ready for a top 10 or 15 contender next.

[joshj909]

Looks like he's making steady progress. I think by mid-2019, after a couple more fights of this calibre, he should be looking at someone like Wach, Szpilka, Dimitrenko. He's already ranked by the WBA and WBO which both should be fairly easy to progress through if he takes on some other heavyweights ranked by them. I'd be looking at a Tom Schwarz matchup if i was him, 3rd in the WBO and 10th in IBF and doesn't look impressive at all.

[IvanMilas13]

Undefeated heavyweight Petar Milas (13-0, 10 KOs) joins countryman Filip Hrgović in action on December 8 at the KC Dražen Petrović in Zagreb as the 23 year-old from Split takes on Ukraine’s Serhiy Radchenko (6-2, 1 KO).

Milas will be looking to cap off an impressive year that has seen him record victories over former World title challengers Francesco Pianeta and Kevin Johnson, and claim the IBO International and WBC Mediterranean titles.

“My opponent is a strong man, but not too strong for me,” says Milas, who is looking forward fighting on a big card in the Croatian capital. “I love the big shows. They inspire me, as my performances in Munich have already shown

“This will be another step up the ladder for me, and the fans should expect an entertaining fight, but one that could come to an end very quickly.”

Milas also has a message for his heavyweight rival Hrgović, who tops the bill in Zagreb, defending his WBC International title versus Ecuador's Ytalo Perea.

“Hrgović should study me well,” he says. “I've already seen weaknesses in him, and in the future, I see us both standing in the ring, fighting for the World title!”

The WBC International Heavyweight Championship contest between Filip Hrgović and Ytalo Perea will top an action-packed fight card at the KC Dražen Petrović on December 8 with a full undercard set to be announced.

Tickets start from 150 KN and are available online via http://www.eventim.hr. All the action will be broadcast live and exclusive on RTL in Croatia.

source: Team Sauerland

[jamamb]

are u related to petar? hes had a good year

[Ilya Muromets]

Hrgovic looks like a third Klitschko brother to me.

[jamamb]

schwarz has yet another soft touch coming up, i doubt hed fight hrgovic

[jamamb]

oh lol didnt even realise that it was today, schwarz is a sloppy fighter indeed, i wonder what can is next for him

[Ruthless-RKO]

oh lol didnt even realise that it was today, schwarz is a sloppy fighter indeed, i wonder what can is next for him

Didnt he fight Lewandowski?

[jamamb]

ya thats the soft touch i was talking about

[Lackeos]

Do you think Hrgovic is ahead of where Joshua was after 6 professional fights?

Number of fights is a totally meaningless metric. One manager could aim for one hard fight per year; and another could aim for 13 easy fights per year, including a few decent ones. It may amount to the same actual skill progression, the same amount of time passed, and they probably took similar amount of toll on the fighter. As far as reliable metrics of progress towards one's prime, age > time spent pro > number of pro fights. Like seriously, Audley Harrison had much better professional wins through his first 6 fights than Mike Tyson did. But Audley Harrison was 31 years old and Mike Tyson was 19. Also, Mike Tyson beat his first 6 opponents within 4 months and Audley Harrison beat his first 6 opponents within 14 months. Comparing fight-for-fight, Harrison was vastly ahead of Tyson through 6 fights. Comparing first year vs first year, Tyson was significantly ahead of Harrison. Comparing achievements through age 25, Tyson was so far ahead of Harrison, it's way beyond absurd.

Pacquiao was a pro for like 11 years and 45 fights before he started to approach his top form, which was around age 26. Lomachenko was pro for like 1 year and 4ish fights before he started to approach his top form, which was around age 26.

Number of fights is totally misleading, because the math gets badly thrown-off by management's preference to match you easy and often or hard and rarely. Time as a pro is largely misleading, because the math gets badly thrown-off by a fighter's decision to turn pro at a young age with minimal experience or a late age with tons of amateur experience. Age is rarely very misleading, excluding a few extreme outliers like Fernando Vargas and Adonis Stevenson.

[IvanMilas13]

are u related to petar? hes had a good year

Yeah, I am. We are all satisfied with his progress this year.

[jamamb]

good luck to him, hes a talented young guy for sure

[funso banjo baby]

Perea is very young and much better than his record suggests.

Shame he wasn't brought along better.

Hrgovic to win but it should go the distance.

[oogiebe]

Hrgovic impresses with 7th rd TKO. Perea no walkover, but not in same league.

[Best Coast]

Easy decision win for Hrgovic.

[Ruthless-RKO]

This weekend.



Perea should put up a decent fight. Hopefully.

[morm]

yeah watching a good fight and then going too advent ...3 time best advent in europa.....
germ knedl ....fantastic

Hrgovic as usuall... win

[iamasadlittleboy]

Still far, far, far, far, far, far better than what Dychko's faced so far, and Jalolov

[Ruthless-RKO]

Still far, far, far, far, far, far better than what Dychko's faced so far, and Jalolov

Tony Yoka? Joyce?