Highly-touted Croatian heavyweight prospect Filip Hrgovic advertised his potential once again with an impressive demolition of Alexandre Kartozia in Denmark on Saturday night.
The 28-year-old ‘Stone Man’ from Zagreb easily disposed of his Greek opponent (8-1-1) inside two rounds at the Struer Arena to improve his professional record to 11-0 with nine of those victories coming inside distance.
Having his first bout since a third-round stoppage of Eric Molina on the Joshua vs Ruiz 2 undercard in Saudi Arabia last December, it would have been understandable had the Croatian prospect showed some ring rust.
But Hrgovic was quickly in control against a smaller opponent, controlling the ring and using a stiff left jab to tee up a powerful overhand right.
By the end of the session the overmatched Kartozia was backed up on the ropes and starting to take real punishment with Hrgovic mixing in body shots to go with that damaging straight right.
The Greek began the second session attempting to stem the tide by getting on the front foot to score with shots of his own. But his power did nothing to worry Hrgovic, and the end was about to come in stunning style.
Just under a minute into the round, Hrgovic unleashed a peach of a right hand which send Kartozia crashing to the canvas. The referee did not even bother to count with the Greek in no condition to get up.
While it is tough to read too much into this performance, the punch that closed the show was a beauty and Hrgovic did nothing wrong in continuing to build a growing reputation.
Only this week another of his victims, Brit Tom Little, had told Sky Sports that he believes Hrgovic is the best placed of all the young heavyweights to dominate the division once Tyson Fury hangs up his gloves.
It will be interesting to see whether his development plan includes a showdown with another Croatian heavyweight – the unbeaten Matchroom man Alen ‘The Savage’ Babic (4-0).
