A DIFFERENT ANIMAL

THE first time I watched Filip Hrgović fight, or indeed heard the name, he had just turned 21 and was an amateur boxer mixing it in a gym full of professionals.

The year was 2013, the gym was beneath a railway arch in London, and Hrgović, though speaking very little English and having even less experience in the company of pros, would around that time trade punches with the likes of David Haye, Deontay Wilder, Mariusz Wach and Richard Towers and never once look out of place. More than just survive in their company, in fact, he would flourish, often appearing the most rounded, balanced and, yes, professional of the lot.

At just 21, it was quite the introduction and his name, while perhaps not the easiest to say, was one far easier to remember. “He’ll go a long way,” Adam Booth, Haye’s trainer and the one responsible for bringing Hrgović over, would tell me back then. “He’s got it.”

Almost a decade on and Hrgović is still very much on his way. A pro now, and an unbeaten one at