The challenger defended well and rallied in the third and early moments of the fourth, taking the fight to the tiring champion, knocking her down in each frame. But Zhang got the fight to the ground later in the round and controlled from there, landing shots the rest of the way home. In the final round, Zhang once again got the fight to the canvas and neutralized Yan, chipping away with short shots the rest of the way.
Round 4: Solid jabs from Dubois and a nice right hand backs Hrgovic up. Hrgovic slams home another right hand and a jab. Left to the body from Hrgovic. One-two from Hrgovic, who’s finding better timing. It was a good start from Dubois, but the British fighter has lost a step.
On January 3, 2022, the IBF sent an invitation to Hrgović and Luis Ortiz to enter talks for a final title eliminator. Hrgović immediately accepted the offer, with his promoters stating: “Challenge accepted by Filip Hrgovic, days and counting for Luis Ortiz to accept”. Ortiz refused, citing inability to compete due to injury. The IBF then invited the next highest ranked heavyweight contender, Joseph Parker, to enter talks for a title eliminator bout. Parker refused to enter talks as well, due to recovering from injuries. On January 10, the same invitation was extended to Tony Yoka. Yoka accepted the offer on January 13. The fight was supposed to be a rematch of their 2016 Summer Olympics semi-final bout, which Yoka narrowly won on points. The IBF later ruled Yoka ineligible to enter an agreement with any opponent other than Martin Bakole, as the two had already signed contracts to face each other. On January 26, both Andy Ruiz Jr. and Murat Gassiev received invitations to enter into negotiations with Hrgović, which they refused five days later, citing lingering injuries as the reason for refusal. On February 7, it was revealed that the #13 ranked Chinese heavyweight Zhilei Zhang had accepted the invitation to enter into negotiations with Hrgović.
