Filip Hrgovic’s parents, Petar Hrgovic and Iva Hrgovic are not as well known as the combat sports fighter who has won 15 boxing fights as well as a Bronze Olympic medal for Croatia. Though in the background, they have been a driving force in his rise to the top. On their own, his father was a motorway worker in Croatia while his mother is a former banker and trained kinesiologist. Aside from this, the Croatian couple also welcome five children during their marriage, and following Petar’s sad death in 2022, Iva continues to be a supportive mother.
Apparently, the number of people supporting the 6 ft 6 inches boxer has gone beyond parents to siblings including a spouse. He got married to Marinela Caja in 2019 and this has made him so happy based on his social media updates. With an interesting life like this, we are focusing our attention on the people who gave birth to Filip-his parents.
Who are Filip Hrgovic’s Parents?
Iva Hrgovic
She is a housewife and a trained Kinesiologist, a person who deals with human movements. She had worked in the banking sector for 20 before she decided to focus on her family. Though she is one of the celebrated people behind Filip’s success as a boxer, this was not often the case. According to the boxer, Iva was not very happy when he started boxing at the age of 13 at the Leonardo club headed by coach Leonardo Pijetraj.
Prior, he had picked basketball when he was 8 years old as a coping mechanism to help him lose weight. He played with the club Dubrava and they made it as far as the National Championship but were forced to leave after suffering from injuries.
After this phase, Fatty as many referred to the chubby Filip started swimming but this did not last long.
Considering this background, Iva’s unhappiness with his decision to be a boxer may have been due to her son’s health and school work like many parents. Moreso, she allowed him to follow his choice after realizing that he was serious about boxing. Thankfully, she came to this realization in time and became one of his greatest cheerers. So far we have seen him rise to become a boxer beyond his hometown in Zagreb where he was born.
Petar Hrgovic
During his active career years, Filip Hrgovic’s father, Petar worked as a traffic engineer to support the family. Aside from this, not much is known about his work. Needless to say, Peter has also been a great supporter of Filip as he faced different contenders in the ring.
It would be recalled that 30-year-old Filip had a successful amateur career. During this time, he fought at different tournaments including the 2010 AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships. His performance was quite outstanding as proven by the gold medal in his third fight of the tournament. Aside from the exposure he got from the fight, it also added 10,000 Kuna to his pocket as this was the pay he received.
Between 2012 and 2016, Filip represented Croatia at other international events including the Olympics where he won a bronze medal. The proud father remained by his son’s side even after he turned professional in 2017.
His Father’s Death Affected him Greatly
In April 2022, Stoneman or El Animal as he is also known made waves when he withdrew from his match against Zhilei Zhang. The fight was to be a co-feature on the Canelo Alvarez versus Dmitry Bivol card slated for May 7 and this explains why it was a highly anticipated match. Moreso, Hrgovic’s withdrawal made many wonder why he would take such a step. It turns out that he had lost his father Petar whom he was very close to just a month before the scheduled fight.
According to reports, he was so shaken by the death that he could not get his head. His father had died at the age of 67 from a protracted illness.
Filip Hrgovic’s Parents Have Four Other Children
Filip is the most famous member of his family yet he is not the child of his parents. He grew up alongside four siblings namely Ivan, Ivana, Matija, and Marta.
While they live quietly, we have gathered that one of his sisters, Marta is also pulling the weight as a makeup artist. According to her Instagram bio, Marta is a certified makeup artist based in Zagreb, Croatia. Also, she is specialized in powder brows, and through her exploits in the beauty industry, Marta has traveled far and wide. According to a July 2023 Instagram update, she is the winner of the World’s Powder Brows competition which was held in Dubai.
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The Olympic Boxing Medalist Has Been Married to Mariinela Caja Since 2019
Filip may be a ferocious fighter and a tough contender but outside the ring, he is quite a romantic who tied the knot with a woman named Marinela Caja. The pair had met in the neighborhood they grew up in and dated for some time before walking down the aisle.
At the time they tied the knot, the 6ft 6 inches tall combat sports fighter revealed that Marinela was an economics student at a tertiary institution who manages to play volleyball with Dubrava, a second division club. Aside from this, she was also working at Pliva.
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