Filip Hrgovic has thanked God for getting him through some 'lonely moments' in his life in a candid admission ahead of his biggest fight to date. The Zagreb brawler, after over 20 professional fights, has finally earned a shot at a world title. Hrgovic, who won bronze at the Olympic Games in Brazil back in 2016, has become a mainstay in the blue-riband division since making his professional debut back in 2017.
A career built the hard way
In 21 fights, he has only tasted defeat once. Two years ago, the Croatian's fight with Daniel Dubois was called off after he was bloodied by the Brit. He has since had to work his way back to the pinnacle of the sport, and enters Saturday night's fight off the back of wins over Joe Joyce, David Adeleye and David Allen.
Regarded as one of the biggest players in boxing's most eye-catching division, it has not been plain-sailing for 'El Animal' who has had to do it the hard way. Ahead of his fight with rising star Moses Itauma for the vacant IBF world title, Hrgovic recalled how he had to graft to be recognised and admitted that his faith kept him going.
Struggles as an amateur and professional
Speaking to reporters, including Mirror Fighting, on Tuesday afternoon, he said: "When I was an amateur, I had a hard time. Even as an amateur, like I struggle. I never had sparring partners, for example, for any of big fights, any of big competitions. Even for Olympic games, I had like few sparring sessions with with some local guy. And as an amateur, boxing is not big in Croatia, so you don't have that tradition, that knowledge, people in boxing, so my first coach, he had like five five amateur fights."
The 34-year-old explained how there's a much more comfortable pathway for British fighters, and even after turning pro, his struggles were about to get worse. "He didn't didn't have that knowledge, that experience. I didn't have sparring partners, I didn't have like... for example, if you're Great Britain national team, you don't need to care about anything," he continued.
"You get everything. So, when I was one of the best amateurs in the world, and I was struggling a lot with all of that stuff. And then, when I turn professional, it become even worse, much worse, because it's big business, and promoters just not interested in you as a Croatian because there's no big TV deals, there's no big crowd behind you, and it's just hard. You don't have anyone to ask in Croatia about contracts. You don't have boxing lawyers, you don't have managers, you don't have anyone with boxing knowledge, so I needed to fight my way through and to make a lot of mistakes, to learn about boxing business, to learn about promoters, managers, lawyers, and to organise my team, to just be able to compete.
Faith as a source of strength
"You need to do a lot of things outside of the ring that you know about logistics and everything. So, I was always, I felt lonely all the time. I was alone in that struggle, in that fight, organising everything, and at the same time training hard to become one of the best. And it's different. In Great Britain, when you have amateur results, you have bunch of managers to choose, bunch of promoters, bunch of... just it's much easier to form a team and then you can easier get a fights, you can match yourself better because promoter want to make you a star because, in the end, they'll make a lot of money of you."
A deeply religious individual, Hrgovic admitted that his prayers and pleas for help through these dark times were answered by God, stating: "With all the struggles, all that... I can't explain to you what what I went through, how lonely I was, how confused I was, how I felt in some times. But all of that struggles with God always, gave me solution. God always gave me strength and wisdom to make good moves and to endure everything, and he always take care of me, and in the end, I'm really, happy with my career."
Comparing paths with Itauma
Hrgovic believes he had it much worse than Itauma, who 'got everything on a plate,' but has credited God for exactly how his life turned out. "I was so lonely, I didn't know what to do, and I only had God," he explained. "God give me strength to endure everything and give me wisdom to make good decisions. It's miraculous how some things ended ended up in in my favour."
"At the end of the day, I'm very happy, but it's now much easier because, I have a good team, I have a lot of knowledge and experience about negotiating, about contracts, about everything. But it was It was hell for me at some point, and I think in Great Britain, when you have big amateur results - you don't need to go through all of that pain what I went through, you That's why I said, you know, Moses got everything on the plate because he didn't need to go through all that. He just won youth world championship, and got the fights, got the events. He was headlining O2 in like 10, 15 fights. Headlining in Saudi Arabia. It's just a lot different."
And while a win in enemy territory would be his greatest achievement yet in the ring, Hrgovic admitted that the outcome will all be a part of the Lord's plan. "And of course, I will be happy to win a world title, but it just should be his will. If he wants to give me this win, he'll give [it to] me - if he think it's best for me, but my soul is depending on my God, Jesus, and it's all about him."
