Filip Hrgovic Says He’s Next In Line For Oleksandr Usyk, Won’t Step Aside

Filip Hrgovic says he will be facing Oleksandr Usyk next, assuming the champ gets his hand raised on Saturday.

Usyk is set to defend his IBF, IBO, WBA, and WBO titles on Saturday night in Poland against Daniel Dubois. The hope is, that if Usyk gets his hand raised, the fight with Tyson Fury will come next.

However, Hrgovic is the IBF mandatory challenger and says he will be next in line for Usyk and won’t be stepping aside.

“I should be next, yeah, I’m next in line, IBF is next in line. According to all the rules, I should be next. There’s no unification fight, they had all the time in the world to make that unification and they didn’t want to do that. So you vacate the titles or you fight your mandatory, that should be the case,” Hrgovic told Talk Sport.

Entering the fight on Saturday, Oleksandr Usyk is a sizeable betting favorite and many expect him to run through Daniel Dubois.

Should that happen, the hope is Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk would happen, but Filip Hrgovic doubts the Brit is even interested in the matchup.

“They don’t want to do that fight, Fury’s fighting some guy who’s never boxed before, they don’t want to do that. So fight your mandatories, I’m not gonna step aside and I want to get my shot. I deserve it, I work hard, I’ve been in this sport for 17 years and I want to get my chance,” Hrgovic said.

With Hrgovic thinking Fury doesn’t want the fight, he believes he will end up boxing Usyk next time out.

Filip Hrgovic is 16-0 as a pro and coming off a TKO win over Demsey McKean and before that, scored a decision win over Zhilei Zhang.

Would you like to see Filip Hrgovic vs. Oleksandr Usyk next?