Filip Hrgović’s coach: ‘There were moments when I was ready to send him home’

Abel Sanchez says he came close to sending Filip Hrgović home, but the Croatian boxer ultimately gave him the kind of preparation he had been demanding for years.

“It was very difficult, and there were moments when I was ready to send him home,” Sanchez said. The relationship survived those tensions, and Hrgović listened throughout his latest training camp. He ran when asked, did everything the team wanted and entered the fight lighter than at any time in the previous five or six years.

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It was very difficult, and there were moments when I was ready to send him home.

Hrgović’s world heavyweight title also reflects the work of several coaches. Leonard Pijetraj laid the foundations, guiding him to world junior gold, European senior gold and an Olympic bronze medal. Cuban trainer Pedro Diaz and Ronnie Shields later added to that boxing arsenal. Yousef Hasan has worked with Hrgović since his professional debut, while Stjepan Božić has joined the team more recently.

For Sanchez, who helped turn Gennady Golovkin into a dominant middleweight and multiple world champion, Hrgović is his 21st world champion. “It is great to have a world champion in any division, but having one in the heavyweight division is especially satisfying,” he said.

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It is great to have a world champion in any division, but having one in the heavyweight division is especially satisfying.

Sanchez also worked with cut specialist Bel Lira. Hrgović’s damaged eyebrows had contributed to the stoppage of his fight with Daniel Dubois, but Sanchez said he had no fear of the same outcome. He said their team had never lost a fight because of a split eyebrow and described their work as a matter of coordination.

Sanchez said Hrgović’s plan against Itauma was not simply to take the opponent into deep waters. Instead, Hrgović aimed to frustrate him, while maintaining pressure even when being hit. Sanchez believed Itauma’s early attacks could not last 12 rounds and said Hrgović won both the psychological battle before the fight and the mental contest inside the ring.

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We tell fighters all the time: You do your job in the ring, and we will do ours outside the ring.