Filip Hrgovic: record, next fight and profile →
Daniel Dubois forever ditched his mental demons Saturday night when he beat up Filip Hrgovic in eight brutal rounds in Saudi Arabia, capping an incredible turnaround for the man once written off as a quitter.
Tonight’s "5 vs 5" bill in Saudi Arabia features five boxers from Queensberry Promotions against five from Matchroom Boxing.
“Has there been bad blood?” Daniel Dubois is asked. “Yeah, there’s been talks. It’s a fight isn’t it?” the heavyweight contender replied. Opponent Filip Hrgovic is favorite ahead of their fight in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night, tipped to repeat the beating he apparently dished out to Dubois in sparring several years ago.
Filip Hrgovic is currently playing an important part in the Queensberry vs Matchroom ‘5 s 5’ pre-event hype machine but if you caught the 32-year-old Croatian in a quiet moment and if he was totally honest, he would probably admit that he couldn’t care less whether Team Matchroom wins the event. He will just be desperate to beat Daniel Dubois and go home.
The IBF has stopped short of taking away Olekandr Usyk’s heavyweight title and instead labeled Saturday’s Filip Hrgovic-Daniel Dubois bout in Saudi Arabia a fight for its interim heavyweight title.
Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed that the heavyweight contender’s next fight will take place in September with the winner of Filip Hrgovic vs. Daniel Dubois as the likeliest opponent – with one Deontay Wilder-shaped caveat.
On paper, Saturday’s heavyweight fight between Filip Hrgovic and Daniel Dubois appears to be a rock-solid, even match-up between top heavyweight contenders.
The term “loser leaves town” dates back to the territorial days of pro wrestling, when promotions stuck to particular regions and the ultimate way to finish off a long-running feud was with a loser-leaves-town match. It was a way to artificially inflate the stakes before a wrestler who was planning to go elsewhere for a while anyway packed his bags.
Daniel Dubois’ athletic abilities have never been in question but there have been doubts as to whether he possesses the mental strength required to become a true, top level heavyweight.