Now, with some time having passed since his huge upset win over Moses Itauma to become a world champion, Filip Hrgovic talks to The Stomping Ground about the fight, reflecting on his performance, and what he thinks of the landscape going forward. Check out some of what he had to say with the full video interview at the bottom.
Hrgovic on achieving his dream of becoming world champion
“I went through hell and a lot of sacrifice and a lot of pain, especially my professional career. It was not only this sport — the hardest sport in the world — but also the politics…It
was really hard for me to go through all that but I never gave up, I never stopped to believe in myself and through all these problems and everything I always believe I’m going to become world champion, and I did, finally.”
On watching back his fight with Itauma and his thoughts
“My first thought was like ‘I can do better,’ that I wasn’t boxing so good, that I can do better, that I can throw more, that I can be faster. And my first thought was like ‘I want a rematch with this guy.’ So in the end it was a big win, big victory and big achievement but I feel like I can do better, like I should throw more and I should be faster.
“Yeah, we was countering me, he was really fast, he put me a little bit insecurity, but I should throw more and I should be more aggressive and I think in a rematch, if a rematch happens, I will smash him.”
On what he plans to do next
“Look, Kabayel got belt without fighting. Dubois got belt against Fabio Wardley. Fabio Wardley got present belt by fighting Parker but he shouldn’t win that fight, you know. It was in my opinion big robbery, big present for him. So right now I think I beat the best guy in the division and I think right now I’m the best champion.”
