That should have ended the waiting. The IBF resolution reportedly requires Hrgovic to defend against Sanchez next, without taking a voluntary defense or unification first. Sanchez’s representatives, Guadalupe Valencia and Mike Borao, have insisted that there will be no second deal at any price. They need to mean it.
Hrgovic fighting Sanchez is not the most profitable option available to Saudi organizers. Sanchez is skilled, cautious, and difficult to look good against. He does not bring the audience of Daniel Dubois, Fabio Wardley or Agit Kabayel. Paying him to remain inactive would be far more convenient than placing him across the ring from Hrgovic.
Another check might look appealing, but Sanchez would be selling time he cannot recover. His boxing depends on reflexes, precise foot placement, and sharp counters. Those qualities erode when an older fighter spends long stretches outside the ring. Six more months of waiting may cost Sanchez more than the step aside payment gives him.
There is also no guarantee that the championship opportunity returns. Hrgovic can lose. A unification can produce a rematch. An injury can remove the champion for months. Once Sanchez agrees to wait, boxing has endless ways of pushing him farther down the schedule without officially taking away his ranking.
Hrgovic’s team has named Sanchez as the probable first defense, possibly in Croatia during the opening quarter of 2027. Even that arrangement carries danger. Sanchez is not a high-volume fighter, and his patient style can produce close rounds. Fighting the champion in Croatia would leave him little room for a cautious performance that depends on three judges recognizing subtle defensive work and isolated counters.
Saudi money can remove nearly any matchmaking obstruction. Sanchez’s only real power is refusing to move. If he allows promoters to buy his mandatory position twice, he stops looking like a future champion and starts looking like boxing’s most expensive placeholder.
