Southside Boxing Gym+Fight Club

Nearly two years in the Big Bear mountains have brought Filip Hrgovic to the doorstep of a world heavyweight title. The Croatian contender has fought and won three times since joining Abel Sanchez's gym, setting up his first shot at a world championship.

Hrgovic will attempt to derail the rise of undefeated 21-year-old Moses Itauma at The O2 in London, with the vacant IBF heavyweight title on the line. An 8-1 underdog, the 34-year-old has been widely written off as little more than a footnote in Itauma’s ascent to the top. That perception has not gone unnoticed in Big Bear.

“He has a chip on his shoulder because of that,” Sanchez tells The Ring's Declan Taylor. “He is already one of the most disciplined fighters I’ve ever had, right up there with Gennadiy [Golovkin], but I think the difference between him and Triple-G is that chip on his shoulder.

“He has never gotten the accolades or the respect he deserves, but he has never stopped pushing. He’s from a country with 3.5 million people or something. If he was from the U.S., Mexico or even the UK, he would have got far more opportunities.

“He’s got this chip on his shoulder because he feels he has never had the accolades or respect that he feels he deserves. That manifests in his discipline.”

Now, that discipline has Hrgovic one win away from giving Sanchez something he has never had: a heavyweight champion.

“I’ve never had a heavyweight champion, so that would be a big thing,” he says with a smile. “Winning it would be like the crowning achievement in my career because everybody feels like the heavyweights ... are the special ones.

“Triple-G’s record is something that is very special to me, Terry Norris beating Ray Leonard is very special to me, but to have the world heavyweight champion would be something special, too. Victory on Saturday would sit alongside all of that.”