By Ian S Palmer
Original article; https://www.sportsbetlistings.com/boxing/filip-hrgovic-vs-daniel-dubois-betting-odds-and-prediction/23674/
Unbeaten heavyweight hopeful Filip Hrgovic of Croatia clashes with former WBA ‘regular’ Heavyweight Champion Daniel Dubois of London, England this Saturday, June 1st. The 12-rounder from Saudi Arabia can be seen live in most nations on DAZN pay-per-view. Hrgovic last fought in December when he stopped Mark De Mori in just 106 seconds. Dubois also boxed in December when he stopped Jarrell Miller in the 10th and final round.
The 31-year-old Hrgovic enters the ring with a perfect mark of 17-0 with 14 Ko’s and has gone just 74 rounds since making his pro debut in 2015. He’s one of the new bigger breed of heavyweights as he stands 6-feet-6-inches tall with a reported 82-inch reach. He’s got impressive power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 82.4 per cent but until beating Zhilei Zhang by a controversial 12-round unanimous decision last year, he hadn’t taken on a legitimate contender as his previous wins were against the likes of Marko Radonjic, Rydell Booker, Pavel Sour, Tom Little, Sean Turner, Amir Mansour, Kevin Johnson, Gregory Corbin and Eric Molina.
The only three opponents to go the distance with him so far have been Johnson over eight rounds in 2018, Turner over eight rounds in the same year and Zhang over 12 rounds in August, 2022. Hrgovic’s first 12 knockouts came within the first five rounds and he stopped Demsey McKean in the 12th and final round last August. Hrgovic stopped Mansour in the third round in 2018 to take the vacant WBC International Heavyweight Title and defended it three times. He then won the IBF International belt against Booker in 2020 and has defended it twice.
Hrgovic enjoyed a fine amateur career and won a bronze medal as a super heavyweight at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He also reached the quarterfinals at the 2011, 2013 and 2015 World Amateur Championships and won the 2010 Youth World Championships as well as the 2015 European Championships. In addition, Hrgovic went 25-4 with 10 Ko’s in the World Series of Boxing from 2010 to 2015.
The 26-year-old Dubois stopped Ebenezer Tetteh in the second round in September, 2019 for the vacant Commonwealth and WBO International Heavyweight Titles after stopping Nathan Gorman in the fifth round in July, 2019 for the vacant British Heavyweight Title. However, he lost all of those belts to Joe Joyce in November, 2020 when he took a knee in the 10th round and decided not to carry on due to taking Joyce’s jabs all night long and suffering eye damage.
He returned seven months later and stopped Bogdan Dinu in the second round before halting Joe Cusumano in one round and then beating Trevor Bryan for the WBA Regular Title by stopping him in the fourth round in June, 2022. Dubois feels he’s in the same class as fellow Brits Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Joe Joyce, but hasn’t taken on any upper-class opponents other than Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk last August in a shot at Usyk’s belts and fell short when he did as Joyce stopped him in the 10th round and Usyk in the ninth.
The comparisons with those elite British heavyweights are somewhat understandable at least physically as Dubois stands 6-feet-5-inches tall with a 78-inch reach and gives up an inch in height and four inches in reach to Hrgovic. Dubois has a mark of 20-2 and has stopped 19 of his 22 opponents for a highly-impressive current knockout ratio of 95 per cent in his victories. Dubois also enjoyed a fine amateur career, reportedly losing just six of 75 bouts and winning gold medals at various tournaments. He didn’t fight in the Olympics though as he decided to turn pro instead in 2017.
He was brought along rather cautiously since as a pro but has been pretty active with 22 fights under his belt but has just 82 rounds of pro experience due to his quick knockouts. His most recognizable opponents have included Miller, Usyk, Kevin Lerena, Bryan, Joyce, Dignu, Nathan Gorman, Kevin Johnson and Razvan Cojanu so he’s fought tougher oponents than Hrgovic has faced. The only three men who haven’t been stopped by Dubois have been Usyk, Joyce and Johnson.
Dubois was outclassed by Joyce but oddly enough was ahead on two of the judges’ scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Dubois usually tips the scales between 230 and 240 lbs and his career has been based on power. He can cause damage with either hand but isn’t the most mobile heavyweight in the ring. He has mediocre to decent hand speed and his chin looked a little shaky when he was dropped three times in the first stanza by Lerena and halted by Usyk.
Prediction…
Hrgovic has power, but hasn’t really faced any top-level opposition over the years other than Zhang and that win was highly controversial. Hrgovic isn’t likely to outbox Dubois as Dubois looked very good against Miller in his last fight as he displayed speed and fine combination punching. Both guys are heavy hitters who usually end things before the judge’s can tally their scorecards. This is another tossup fight for me as I can see it ending in a stoppage for either boxer but could also envision Dubois winning it on points. However, Dubois doesn’t really handle adversity well and often comes undone when things aren’t going his way, and for that reason I’ll give Hrgovic the slight edge here.
