IBF mandatory heavyweight contender Filip Hrgovic says he believes he’ll knockout Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs) on Saturday if he can hit him with his best shots in their twelve-rounder in Riyadh.
Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KOs) feels that Dubpis has proven he doesn’t like to take punishment in the two fights he quit against Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk. He thinks if he hits Dubois, he’ll fold on Saturday night.
It’s a difficult fight to accurately predict because Hrgovic has only fought one good opponent as a pro, Zhilei Zhang, and he won that fight by a questionable 12-round decision in 2022.
Apart from that fight, the only other notable fighter on Hrgovic’s resume is Demsey McKean, who gave him all he could handle last year in a competitive fight. McKean hurt Hrgovic in that fight, and that was surprising because the Austrian insn’t a big puncher.
Dubois’ Advantages
The 26-year-old Dubois has the youth, speed, size and power advantage over Hrgovic. What he doesn’t have is the experience. That could be a factor in this fight. The chin department is similar. Hrgovic has shown that he gets hurt just as easily as Dubois.
“I think I have a psychological advantage with that sparring session, but fight is fight. That was a long time ago. We’ll see what’s going on this Saturday,” said Filip Hrgovic to Queensberry about having sparred with Daniel Dubois in the past.”
The sparring that the two fighters did was too long ago to tell you anything; Dubois says he was 17 years old when they sparred. Hrgovic feels that it will help him, but I doubt it.
Dubois’ Past Quitting and Resilience
“He quit two times. It’s not good for a fighter to quit, but I think he’s a solid fighter. He proved in some fights that he’s a good fighter, especially in his last fight, he proved that he can fight in the late rounds as well,” said Hrgovic about Dubois’ win last December over Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller.
It’s understandable why Dubois quit in his fight with Joe Joyce, as his left was badly swollen, and he took a shot on it that was the final straw. His swollen eye was almost closed at the time.
“I think he has a problem with receiving punches that he doesn’t like. He doesn’t like to receive punches and be hit. He’s not so good with that. I think I’m the opposite. I proved that I have a really good chin,” said Hrgovic, failing to mention that he was hurt by Demsey McKean and dropped hard by Zhilei Zhang.
When Dubois quit against Usyk, he was hit on the top of the head and hurt by the punch. Dubois wasn’t going to be able to keep fighting even if he wanted to. He made it to the ninth round, which is when Tyson Fury should have been knocked out in his fight with Usyk.
There’s no shame in Dubois making it to the ninth round against Usyk because he’s in good company with the Gysky King, who would have been stopped in that round if not for the referee saving his hide.
“I was never stopped in over 100 amateur fights, and never in sparring. I think I have that quality of never to give up, and I think if I put good pressure and if I hit him with my best shots, I will stop him,” said Hrgovic.
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