Johnny Fisher’s trainer demanded Alen Babic’s ‘heat’

Mark Tibbs identified Alen Babic as Johnny Fisher’s next opponent after watching him spar. 

The heavyweights fight on Saturday at the Copper Box Arena in London, on an occasion that represents the 25-year-old Fisher’s highest-profile and toughest fight.

Croatia’s Babic has, like Fisher, built his reputation via his involvement in entertaining fights typically on Matchroom promotions, but Tibbs, Fisher’s trainer, has been aware of him since before his professional debut.

It was when Dillian Whyte – then working under Tibbs and in the process of producing his finest performances and recording his finest victories – was preparing to fight Oscar Rivas in July 2019 that Babic was hired as a sparring partner and first made an impression on the trainer.

After observing him at close quarters and then being unimpressed by the shortlist of opponents that previously existed for Fisher for Saturday’s date, Tibbs asked for his leading fighter to be matched with Babic, 33. 

Babic was stopped in a round by Lukasz Rozanski in the lightly-regarded bridgerweight division in April 2023 but, like Fisher, he remains undefeated at heavyweight, and, Tibbs believes, possesses the ability to test Fisher because of the ambition alternative opponents lacked. 

“I put it to Johnny,” the trainer said. “I was looking at opponents that they was giving me, and the ones above him in the top 10 in Britain – there’s still battles between them going on. 

“There was some Americans that was presented to me, and I was thinking, ‘I don’t see any developing if he got rid of them; if he didn’t get rid of them it wouldn’t look good’. There was [Gerald] Washington; [Mariusz] Wach; amongst a couple of others, and I just thought they weren’t gonna do Johnny any favours.

“I just thought of [Babic]. ‘I’ll give you a name – think about that.’ Walked away, and the next thing I know, it was done. If we get our game plan right in this fight, Johnny will be a bigger star than he is already. 

“I like [Babic’s] fighting style. You ain’t gotta go looking for him. Looking at his last couple of fights, for the fans it’d be a winner. You’re never safe when you’ve got a man that wants to fight; that wants to win; that’s come to win. But [Fisher’s] just won an area title, and he’s gonna fight people that wanna win; when they get hit on the chin, come back. He’s a very proud man, Alen Babic. I know him very, very well.

“When he first come to the UK, Dillian hired him for sparring when we fought Rivas. The day I picked him up, I went to Nando’s with him. Lovely geezer – real, lovely fella. Proper fighting man. Old school. Didn’t wanna mess about with any S&C – just wanted to fight. So I know him really well.

“It ain’t a walkover. We’ve gotta get our tactics right, and we ain’t gonna underestimate him, but Johnny’s got what it takes to beat him.

“Instantaneously, he just wants to go to war – he ain’t frightened to go to war. He don’t care. He tore into Dillian the first round. I was like, ‘Hold up, hold up – we’re fighting in a few weeks’ time’.[Dillian said] ‘No, no. Let him go, Mark. Let him go, Mark’. It was like that. But he was lovely, Alen. He was lovely. ‘Calm down a little bit, Al – please’. He’s a lovely character. He’s a fighting man, and he’s gonna bring heat.”

Fisher was the winner of the Boxing Writers’ Club’s last young fighter of the year award. He is also a popular figure whose value largely exists in his ability to sell numerous tickets for fight nights, but who remains sufficiently unproven that the subject of his potential divides opinion.

“We won’t afford to make any mistakes,” Tibbs continued. “I’m on it with that. We’re on it with that. We can’t afford to make mistakes. We don’t wanna plateau and don’t wanna let the British public down. They spend a lot of money – he sells a lot of tickets. We wanna play the game and bring Johnny on – keep developing him. Developing his confidence, and everything. 

“[Babic is] a wild swinger. A little bit volatile. But I think that’ll play into our hands. 

“[Fisher’s] got a massive heart. But it takes more than heart – there’s levels. All we can do is keep polishing him and making him cute – calm him down a little bit, if anything. He’s doing that. You saw his [stoppage of Dmytro Bezus in Las Vegas in February in his past] fight – punch-perfect. A little wild in the opening rounds; tweaked him, and he done it instantaneously. 

“‘Straighten that right hand up.’ Big swings. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ ‘Now put a bit of a bend on it, but not too big.’ I like working with people like that – that listen, and trust.

“I believe he can [reach the same level as Whyte]. He’s got the heart. The work ethic. We’ve gotta keep chipping away; fight for that British title. If he wins that British title, the world’s his oyster.”