Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs) has called out Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KOs) for a fight on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou on March 8 in Saudi Arabia.
Dubois’ challenge comes after His Excellency Turki Alalshikh offered Hrgovic six names he could face next, including Dubois, Martin Bakole, Frank Sanchez, Jarrell Miller, Agit Kabayel, and Jared Anderson. “Hrgovic, I’m the daddy,” said Dubois in a recent post on Instagram. “I heard you’ve been calling out everyone else’s name. I can’t hear mine. Are you ready? Because I’m ready.”
The Brit is coming off a career-best performance in December against Miller on the undercard of Joshua vs Otto Wallin, who he defeated via 10th-round stoppage in a thrilling all-action contest in the Kingdom Arena. ‘Dynamite’ Dubois proved he had heart following two previous losses to Usyk and Joe Joyce, where he was accused of quitting during both contests.
Still, some believe Dubois was unfortunate not to be crowned unified heavyweight champion in August after landing a borderline body shot on Usyk and flooring the Ukrainian before the referee deemed it a low blow.
In an interview with Boxing News, Dubois trainer Don Charles said: “We went there, and I believe we won the fight before we lost the fight…“As much as I would have liked Daniel’s hands to be raised in Poland to be crowned the unified world champion, maybe it was too premature. Maybe had Daniel become world champion back then, of course, it would have been a nice thing, but then you’ve got to defend those belts and hold onto them. Maybe we’re not ready.”
Meanwhile, Hrgovic’s last outing saw the Croatian destroy Mark De Mori in one round, which also featured on the Joshua-Wallin undercard. Hrgovic was also in talks to fight Oleksandr Usyk for the IBF, WBA, and WBO heavyweight titles on February 17 following a late withdrawal by Tyson Fury, who suffered a cut in sparring.
However, the undisputed heavyweight contest between Fury and Usyk has now been rescheduled for May 18, with both boxers agreeing to forfeit $10 million if they pull out, according to Turki Alalshikh.
Regardless, ‘El Animal’ is still mandatory for the IBF heavyweight championship, and if he stays undefeated, he could fight the winner of Fury-Usyk. It’s also possible Hrgovic could face a different opponent for the IBF strap if Fury-Usyk decide to have a rematch and the belt becomes vacant.
But for now, a fight between Dubois and Hrgovic could be a great addition to the Joshua-Ngannou undercard while all world titles are unavailable.
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