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 along with his best shots of their twelve-rounder in Riyadh.
Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KOs) feels that Dubpis has proven he doesn’t wish to take punishment within 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 professional, Zhilei Zhang, and he won that fight by a questionable 12-round decision in 2022.
Other than that fight, the one other notable fighter on Hrgovic’s resume is Demsey McKean, who gave him all he could handle last yr in a competitive fight. McKean hurt Hrgovic in that fight, and that was surprising since the Austrian insn’t a giant puncher.
Dubois’ Benefits
The 26-year-old Dubois has the youth, speed, size and power advantage over Hrgovic. What he doesn’t have is the experience. That might be a think about this fight. The chin department is analogous. Hrgovic has shown that he gets hurt just as easily as Dubois.
“I feel I actually have a psychological advantage with that sparring session, but fight is fight. That was a protracted time ago. We’ll see what’s occurring this Saturday,” said Filip Hrgovic to Queensberry about having sparred with Daniel Dubois previously.”
The sparring that the 2 fighters did was too way back to let you know anything; Dubois says he was 17 years old once they sparred. Hrgovic feels that it would 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 feel he’s a solid fighter. He proved in some fights that he’s a superb fighter, especially in his last fight, he proved that he can fight within the late rounds as well,” said Hrgovic about Dubois’ win last December over Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller.
It’s comprehensible 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 ultimate straw. His swollen eye was almost closed on the time.
“I feel he has an issue with receiving punches that he doesn’t like. He doesn’t wish to receive punches and be hit. He’s not so good with that. I feel I’m the alternative. I proved that I actually have a extremely good chin,” said Hrgovic, failing to say that he was hurt by Demsey McKean and dropped hard by Zhilei Zhang.
When Dubois quit against Usyk, he was hit on the highest of the top and hurt by the punch. Dubois wasn’t going to have the ability to maintain fighting even when he desired to. He made it to the ninth round, which is when Tyson Fury must 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 used to be never stopped in over 100 amateur fights, and never in sparring. I feel I actually have that quality of never to provide up, and I feel if I put good pressure and if I hit him with my best shots, I’ll stop him,” said Hrgovic.
