His previous two outings to the Middle East, against Zhilei Zhang in 2002 and then Daniel Dubois two years later, were performances to forget.

Against Zhang, there was a consensus that Hrgovic was lucky to escape with a unanimous decision win, which was followed by being on the wrong end of a brutal beating from Daniel Dubois in the Saudi Arabian capital.

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Hrgovic was 31 years old at the time of his eighth-round stoppage loss to Dubois, and while in heavyweight terms, there is still plenty of years left, such a punishing loss could have made the Croatian give a second thought as to whether he can still be a force at heavyweight and challenge the major names.

Instead, Hrgovic has used the loss to Dubois as a positive. After admitting it was a contest that he should have postponed due to illness, a refresh was needed in his training team.

Cue the arrival of Abel Sanchez.

Sanchez is a name which will be known to many boxing fans as the trainer of the legendary Gennadiy Golovkin. The Kazakh fighter quickly became known as one of the sport’s most devastating punchers, inflicting serious damage whenever he stepped into the ring in a career full of world title success at middleweight.

The Mexican-American trainer is no stranger to coaching heavyweights, with Olympian Joe Joyce, a former rival of Hrgovic, spending time with the 76-year-old.

The first fight of the Hrgovic-Sanchez partnership in April coincidentally came against Joyce. Hrgovic triumphed that night, and there were a lot of positives. The Croatian showed that he was able to take thumping blows whilst also not being afraid to trade when necessary.

Yes, there were times where Hrgovic was a bit too open, but it will no doubt be something he will have worked on with Sanchez ahead of his next fight on Saturday night against David Adeleye on DAZN PPV.

Taking place once again in Riyadh, Hrgovic spoke about why he decided to continue his career with Sanchez at the helm for this new chapter of his boxing career.

“I like Abel Sanchez, I wanted to refresh after my loss to Dubois, and I was looking for a new coach,” Hrgovic said.

“I spoke a lot with Abel, and I like the way he thinks, I like his attitude, discipline and routine.

“I like the kind of coaches who are old school, strict, and military, and we clicked.”

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Not only will Sanchez have given Hrgovic confidence to let his power be the decider, but his training methods will look to benefit the Croatian’s overall fitness.

Sanchez’s gym is based in Big Bear, a town situated in California’s San Bernardino Mountains. This location poses the unique challenge of preparing boxers at altitude.

The lack of oxygen should benefit fighters, improving their stamina and making it easier to dig deep when inevitably the going gets tough.

For Hrgovic, his preparations for Saturday’s meeting with Adeleye will be the first time he has trained at altitude, and he is banking on this giving him the edge against the former British heavyweight champion.

“We’ll see because for the fight against Joe Joyce, we were preparing in Croatia. I wasn’t on altitude.

“This will be the first fight I will be coming down from altitude, it should be a boost of stamina and energy.

“Training here is harder; there is no oxygen, but when I go down, it should be much easier, so I hope it’s going to work.”

Hrgovic was in good spirits when speaking from Big Bear, and he has every right to be.

A new start has added a glow which I have not seen around the Croatian for some time.

If he can produce an impressive display against Adeleye in Riyadh, then there is no doubt Sanchez will be the right man to take Hrgovic forward and steer him towards marquee titles and opponents in a career which still has plenty left in it.

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