Notebook: Hrgovic, Sanchez negotiating IBF final eliminator
Hagler-Hearns celebration; new trainer for Sheeraz; Davis-De Los Santos announcement coming; Baumgardner teams with James; TR's May 10 undercard; new Matchroom heavyweight; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Heavyweights Frank Sanchez and Filip Hrgovic, the two highest-ranked available contenders in the IBF ratings, are negotiating a final elimination fight, sources with knowledge of the talks told Fight Freaks Unite.
The IBF recently ordered them to meet in the eliminator and their teams notified the organization that they were willing to participate and negotiations have begun for what would likely be a summer fight, the sources said.
They have 30 days to make a deal and if one is not struck a purse bid will be scheduled.
However, Derek Chisora is the current IBF mandatory challenger, so the winner of Sanchez-Hrgovic, should it happen, would be the organization’s mandatory challenger after that for a shot at the belt currently held by Daniel Dubois, who is likely headed to a July 12 rematch with unified champion Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed title.
Sanchez (25-1, 18 KOs), 32, a Cuba native fighting out of Miami, suffered his lone defeat by seventh-round knockout to Agit Kabayel last May on the Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk I undercard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Sanchez had subsequent knee surgery, gone through rehabilitation and has won his only bout since. That was a low-profile third-round knockout of Ramon Olivas Echerverria, who was 18-24 coming into the fight, on Feb. 22 in Tijuana, Mexico. The fight was designed to let Sanchez test his knee.
Hrgovic (18-1, 14 KOs), 32, of Croatia, suffered his only loss by cut-induced stoppage against Dubois for the vacant IBF interim title last June on the “5 vs. 5” card in Riyadh. He also has won his only fight since, a clear decision over Joe Joyce as a late replacement on April 5 in Manchester, England.
Hagler-Hearns anniversary
The 40th anniversary of the legendary three-round shootout between middleweight champion Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns was on Tuesday. On April 15, 1985, at the Caesars Palace outdoor stadium in Las Vegas, the Hall of Famers waged one of the greatest and most memorable action fights in boxing history with the first round the greatest opening round ever. On this special edition podcast, TJ and discussed the fight with a pair of Hall of Fame broadcasters who were ringside to call the action — Al Bernstein, who was the analyst for the closed circuit broadcast, and Barry Tompkins, who handled the blow-by-blow for the HBO delayed broadcast.
We had a blast getting their thoughts on the epic fight and they had a few great nuggets I had never heard about before even though I have obsessed over this fight and the 1980s “Four Kings” fights. The audio podcast is available on all the usual platforms, as our shows always are, but we also put this one on the Big Fight Weekend YouTube channel, so check it out the video below and subscribe to the channel.