Jared Anderson wants to fight Filip Hrgovic next, but Anderson realizes that might not be a realistic option.
The hard-hitting Anderson believes he is ready to knock off an undefeated heavyweight contender like Hrgovic in his next bout. He just isn’t sure that Hrgovic would want to risk his top spot now that the Croatian contender has edged previously unbeaten Chinese veteran Zhang Zhilei in an IBF elimination match.
Anderson (12-0, 12 KOs), of Toledo, Ohio, mentioned Hrgovic specifically during his post-fight interview with ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna on Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“[I’ll] call him out,” Anderson said after he knocked out Miljan Rovcanin in the second round. “I would really love that fight. Realistically, we don’t know how far we are from that fight, but I would love that fight. Filip Hrgovic, anybody in the top 10 in the IBF, WBO, WBC. We’re just looking to get some bigger names. You know, everybody keep asking for bigger fights [for me] and we would love to have those bigger fights.”
The emerging Anderson, 23, is not ranked in the top 15 by the IBF, WBA, WBC or WBO. His easy victory over Serbia’s Rovcanin (24-3, 16 KOs) was Anderson’s first fight in 8½ months, though, because a hand injury forced him to withdraw from a fight against Germany’s Christian Hammer (27-10, 17 KOs) that was supposed to be part of the Tyson Fury-Dillian Whyte undercard April 23 at Wembley Stadium in London.
Hrgovic (15-0, 12 KOs) is expected to move up from the third spot in the IBF’s rankings after defeating Zhilei (24-1-1, 19 KOs) by unanimous decision in their 12-rounder August 20 on the Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony Joshua undercard in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The 30-year-old Hrgovic, who withstood a first-round knockdown and other troublesome moments against Zhilei, is also ranked 12th by the WBO and 14th by the WBC.
“Sometime early next year,” Arum told BoxingScene.com before Anderson defeated Rovcanin, “we’re gonna make moves to fight guys like Hrgovic, the Chinese contender [Zhilei], that class of guy.”
Regardless, Anderson will return to the ring before the end of this year, perhaps on a December 10 card at Madison Square Garden that’ll likely feature former lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez in the main event.
“Just expect to see me real, real soon,” Anderson told Osuna, “and never see me out of the gym.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.