Not only is Saudi Arabia producing high-caliber fights, it’s also giving the sport surprise outcomes.
Amid the rich heavyweight canvas that includes multiple active current or former world titleholders in their mid-to-late 30s – undisputed Oleksandr Usyk and ex-champions Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Joseph Parker and Andy Ruiz Jr. – a 26-year-old re-entered the conversation Saturday.
By enduring some early pressure, England’s Daniel Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) rinsed away the chatter of those trying to cast him as a quitter by stopping Filip Hrgovic in the eighth round on cuts.
The victory makes Dubois the IBF interim heavyweight titleholder, and if his promoter Frank Warren provides the blessing, Dubois has a case to provoke the IBF to sanction his planned Sept. 21 bout at London’s Wembley Stadium against former three-belt champion Joshua as a fight for the full title.
(Warren also promotes Fury, and Usyk has sought an exception from the IBF to keep the full belt for their planned Dec. 21 rematch in Saudi Arabia.)
“I really thought Hrgovic was going to beat Dubois. … Dubois showed me something,” Chris Algieri said on Monday’s episode of ProBox TV’s “Deep Waters.” “He’s been known as a guy who will fold under pressure – a quitter, because of the fights against Joe Joyce [when Dubois suffered reduced vision] and Usyk – but he turned a corner and got rid of that cloak.”
Former 140-pound titleholder Algieri said Dubois “outmanned” Croatia’s Hrgovic (17-1, 14 KOs).
“That will be massive for him the rest of his career,” Algieri said.
Conversely, Hall of Fame former two-division titlist Timothy Bradley Jr. said on “Deep Waters” that Hrgovic’s fade confirmed why the heavyweight “was always borderline with me, not a guy I’m overly impressed with.
“Running out of gas after five or six rounds?” Bradley said. “He literally quit. He was overrated.”
Former welterweight titleholder Paulie Malignaggi wondered on the show, “Maybe he expected [the former version of] Dubois.”
Bradley wondered why Hrgovic would think that, knowing Dubois went “toe to toe” with Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller to score a 10th-round TKO in December.
“You have those types of fights, you get to say, ‘I’m strong. I have a strong will,” Bradley said. “I was able to take his best and get in his behind. Hrgovic turned his tail.”
With Dubois fighting on the Queensberry-versus-Matchroom “5 vs 5” card that was swept convincingly when Warren’s heavyweight Zhilei Zhang knocked out Wilder, 38, Warren produced a euphoric postfight statement in assessing that Saudi Arabia has now become the world’s fight capital over Las Vegas.
“If my only way to get the fights is over there – we have to sacrifice the atmosphere – boxing fans will say, ‘OK, I’ll take them,’” Malignaggi said. “These are superfights we are getting spoiled by.
“But I’ll tell you what, I personally am from the West. We like the crazy, rambunctious atmosphere.”
The action has come across somewhat sanitized because of the lack of energy and passion in the stands.
Yet Bradley, knowing that the undisputed light heavyweight championship is due in Saudi Arabia Oct. 12 between Saturday winner and WBA titleholder Dmitry Bivol versus Russia’s three-belt champion Artur Bererbiev, said he’s fine without the abundance of fanfare.
“You give me these types of cards … these fights are so damn great,” Bradley said. “I don’t know who’s going to win these fights, [and] the fans get loud when there’s action.”
Still, there’s Saudi “loud” and the type of buzz we’ll get when Saudi Arabian fight broker Turki Alalshikh brings his first Riyadh Season-backed cards to the U.S. (Aug. 3) and London (with Joshua-Dubois) on Sept. 21.
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