Filip Hrgovic is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia ahead of Saturday’s fight with Daniel Dubois, and the unbeaten Croatian, speaking with IFL TV, said “this should be my year.” This, Hrgovic said, should be the year he finally gets a shot at becoming a world champion. Currently 17-0(14), 31 year old Hrgovic went on to say that after he has beaten Dubois, as he is of course very confident he will do, he will “smash [Anthony] Joshua and then fight the winner of the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury rematch” that has just been announced for December 21st.
After that, Hrgovic says, he will retire. It sounds like a plan, but can Hrgovic do it? First up is the Dubois fight, and Hrgovic says he expects a good fight, but one that he will win.
“I think I’m quicker (than Dubois), I’m a better puncher, and I think I have a better IQ in the ring, more experience,” Hrgovic said. “I think I have more advantages but he’s also a good fighter, he has good power, a lot of knockouts, so I should be careful. It will be a good fight. Hopefully, this should be my year. A win on Saturday and then come on Wembley and smash Joshua, and then [fight the] winner of Fury-Usyk rematch, and then retire. That’s it. That’s the plan.”
Hrgovic has been the IBF mandatory contender for almost four years, so his big title opportunity is long overdue. There was talk of the Hrgovic-Dubois fight contesting the IBF heavyweight title, the belt stripped from Usyk for taking the return with Fury and not defending against mandatory challenger Hrgovic. But as of right now, Saturday’s fight will be a non-title fight. Still, it’s a big fight and one that Hrgovic cannot at all afford to slip up in.
Dubois, 20-2(19) can certainly punch as Hrgovic says. Hrgovic is the favourite to win, however, and if he does so it will almost certainly be Joshua at Wembley next. Should he win that fight, Hrgovic would be two-thirds of the way through his goal, his plan. But it could take some time before Hrgovic gets the Usyk-Fury winner into the ring with him.
For now, Hrgovic is fully focused on Dubois. At least he should be, and almost certainly will be. Can Hrgovic defeat Dubois on Saturday, or will the younger man upset Hrgovic’s big plans?
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