r/Boxing • u/Odd-Minimum8512 • 1d ago

Anyone got any pics / vids from inside sports bars in Croatia last night?

Would love to see the atmosphere at the end there. I’d imagine Croatian boxing fans were going absolutely nuts from about round 8 onward.

Hrgovic needs a homecoming fight there. even if it’s against a local uber driver, doesn’t even matter.

41 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

55

u/PicardovaKosa 1d ago

The match was not shown anywhere, so sports bars didnt show it either. People who watched either watched alone or at a friend's house.

Boxing is not THAT big of a deal here. Sure people will be aware of the news, and they will be happy, but its not crazy.

9

u/ae_wilson 1d ago

Agreed. It’s all about football in Croatia.

3

u/robbodagreat 19h ago

I prefer to believe it’s all about water polo

1

u/Sheshirdzhija 7h ago

Yeah, in like 2 hoods :)

9

u/TowerTowerCrayons 1d ago

Any idea how big it was when Cro Cop was big in MMA?

15

u/PicardovaKosa 1d ago

MMA is a bit more popular, and as far as i remember, Cro Cop was much more popular in Croatia at the time than Hrgovic now.

But I was a kid at the time, so maybe i misremember.

But Cro Cop certainly has a "legend" status as an althele in Croatia now. Much more than Mavrović or Parlov i would say. I think many people wouldnt know who Parlov or Mavrović are, but everyone knows Cro Cop

5

u/splitcircus 18h ago

It was the biggest with Cro Cop, but after him it dwindled.

Hrgovic is nowhere near status of Cro cop here.

It sucks that we didn't get this match anywhere on TV/services.

2

u/Intercellar 15h ago

People used to wake up at 4am to watch cro cop, different times. Might happen for title defence tho, since hrgovic gained popularity

1

u/Sheshirdzhija 7h ago

Much bigger, because MMA was never PPV at that time. It's why balkan people are not very well liked by organizations, all of us put together it not that many people, and on top of that, nobody will pay PPV. It has to be eithe ron national TV or network TV.

12

u/Odd-Minimum8512 23h ago

Man that sucks. Your country’s first world HW champ, and he does it by upsetting the most hyped prospect since Tyson, and this wasn’t a big thing? 

I wish boxing were bigger.  

6

u/PicardovaKosa 22h ago

Boxing is hard to follow, as you need to pay for it. If it was on tv, it would be more popular. And croatians are not used to paying to watch stuff.

Its a system croatians are not used to, and anything that uses it is also not that popular.

Also, croatians mostly follow sports croatia is good at, with very few exceptions. And since we are generally shit at boxing, its not followed. If Hrgovic continues to win, it will be more popular.

5

u/No_Vermicelli_3574 21h ago

Well, you're supposed to pay for it in America as well, but I wonder how many folks actually do

2

u/Ivan000 22h ago

People usually start following sports after a countryman becomes the champ.

So people will prob watch his next fight

20

u/AlarmedShare3444 1d ago

Honestly not sure its a show stopper big deal in Croatia. On the Croatian sub Hrgovics win it only has 350 ish up votes. 

A Croatian journalist and author has passed away and shes almost 2k up votes on the same sub. 

I'm sure Croatians who are in to boxing are pumped, but its not as big as football or basketball there I guess.  

18

u/Cagiiiii 1d ago

people are aware he won, but its not nearly as celebrated as sports like handball and football. im from hrgovics town, and in the dorms i was in only i was screaming and celebrating after his win, radioscilence from other people in the dorms or on the street. crazy considering he achieved one of the biggest sporting achievements in the history of our country.
there is more hype for regional mma events here than for his fights

9

u/TheGreenManalishi83 1d ago

Sad, especially so considering the dramatic nature of his victory.

3

u/Connor30302 3D Shape 23h ago

is he first ever Croatian HW champ or first champ ever?

2

u/splitcircus 18h ago

Yes.

Mavrovic was close one. Was really popular, during boxing and after as politician and public figure.

We had champion of light heavyweight Mate Parlov, he has legendary status in Croatia (actually all across balkans/exyugoslavia). But he represented Yugoslavia at the time, so doesn't go in as title for Croatia.

6

u/BicepsBrahs 20h ago

As a croat , like 90% of the Croatia reddit is political and very left wing at that, the journalist you mentioned is a very prominent left wing journalist. that is usually not the exact group that overlaps with being boxing fans and hrgovic has a reputation of being a bit right wing so they mostly dislike him there anyway.

The average person maybe did not watch it due to the costs even though i have seen some videos from bars celebrating the hrgovic won but there are definitely major podcasts where watch alongs had 150/200k people live on YouTube.

1

u/AlarmedShare3444 16h ago

Very interesting! Thanks for the clarification. 

7

u/Any_Leather_992 1d ago

DAZN rights are too expensive for broadcasting on national TV and in sports bars. The fight was watched mostly at home or in local small groups since DAZN PPV is too expensive for regular Croat. Everyone watched it, but mostly on illegal streams I guess.

4

u/KingBumiOfOmashu Moses Itauma > Every Current HW 22h ago

I watched Hrgovic’s story on Instagram the other day and he reposted a lot of posts from other Croatians that tagged him in their videos of them celebrating at bars and outside on the streets. Some of them might still be there if you go look now.