It was widely understood that Croat heavyweight contender Filip Hrgoivic would improve to 17-0 and stop Mark De Mori whenever he wanted to in Saudi Arabia.
Both things went that way, with Hrgovic scoring his 14th stoppage win. De Mori, a 41-year-old veteran, dropped to 41-3-2 (36).
El Animal Hrgovic looked cool, relaxed and picked his shots from the first bell. He landed a couple of heavy rights early on, causing De Mori to take an count within a minute.
De Mori tried to throw back, but Hrgovic was landing at will. De Mori claimed he was being clubbed on the back of the head and showed his back a couple of times, once retreating all the way top the ropes, but when he did it a second time referee Mark Lyson waved it off – as the towel of surrender came in – and that was that.
It was the one fight on the bill that looked like a complete mismatch, and it proved to be the case. Hrgovic will have had harder sparring sessions and he is well-placed for a title fight next year.
It had taken just 1-46 of the first round.
This contest was second on the huge Day of Reckoning bill at the Kingdom Stadium in Riyadh.
“To be honest, I expected this kind of scenario,” said Hrgovic. “It’s more like a stay-busy fight
And I’m looking forward to my title shot and bigger fights in the future. He’s a brave guy, thanks to him for accepting the fight.”
Hrgovic is the IBF’s No. 1, and is in line to fight the winner of the February 17 fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury.
