On the Internet, everyone often talks about Fury's duel with Zhang Zhilei and Usyk, as well as the embarrassing moment when Joshua became incontinent due to fear.
However, many voices from Europe and the United States have criticized Zhang Zhilei's attitude, believing that he has avoided the challenge of boxing champions such as Hrgovic and Chisola, and always looks for shortcuts to reach the top in one step. Recently, Zhang Zhilei mentioned Hrgovic in an interview and explained why he didn't pursue him, who is known as the "busser of boxing."
Zhang Zhilei stressed that Hrgovic, the Croatian champion, does not have that much commercial appeal, and some of his methods in the game are very unsightly: "Hrgovic is unlikely to attract a large crowd of people, he has a habit of sneaking up on the back of his opponent's head from time to time in a match to win." He's used it a lot, even last week's clash with Marc de Mori. ”
Hrgovic, on the other hand, has repeatedly publicly criticized Zhang Zhilei, boasting that he defeated Zhang Zhilei in a certain game in poor physical condition. He mentioned that his training was almost completely hindered due to multiple factors such as the change of coach and the death of his father.
But in that state, he still defeated Zhang Zhilei. He vowed to give Zhang Zhilei a knockout in front of 1.4 billion Chinese in his next match in Beijing. In the face of Hrgovic's tough attitude, Zhang Zhilei chose to keep a low profile and did not respond.
After three career wins, Joshua's agent, Hearn, turned his attention to Dhgovic. The reason is that the Croatian currently occupies the top spot in the IBF rankings, providing Joshua with a chance to compete for a possible vacant world belt.
Hearn prefers Hrgovic over Zhang, mainly because he needs to protect Joshua, a gold-medal fighter. First of all, Helgovic is considered less threatening than Zhang Zhilei;Secondly, Joshua and Hrgovic are both boxers under Hearn's agency.
If Joshua does engage in a tight battle with Hrgovic, he could potentially collide with his rival if he can cleverly avoid being hit in the back of the head with his "bunny punch." Hrgovic had a terrible performance against McCann, and even worse against Zhang Zhilei in 2022. In both fights, Hrgovic suffered injuries, especially in the defeat of Zhang Zhilei, which is considered a classic heist by many boxing fans.
Regarding Hrgovic, Zhang Zhilei expressed disdain: "Look at Hrgovic's record. He was always careful after a fight with me, picking a relatively weak opponent because he was afraid of losing that title. I dare say Hrgovic is a professional fighter who likes to punch the back of the head. ”
Surprisingly, the referee did not take any measures to stop Hrgovic when he was enforcing his game. It's confusing that the referees have strict regulation on low punches, but are lenient when it comes to the more dangerous behavior of hitting the back of the head.