Filip Hrgovic To Fight On Matchroom Vs Queensbury Card, ‘Possibly Against Daniel Dubois’
The trainer of Filip Hrgovic, Ronnie Shields, has said the heavyweight contender will be fighting in Saudi Arabia on June 1 and could face Daniel Dubois, leading to assumptions that this will be one of the fights on the Matchroom Boxing vs Queensbury Promotions event.
An event is proposed for June 1 in Riyadh that would see Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn and Queensbury’s Frank Warren put five of their fighters up against each other. Each promoter will select two weight classes each, while Turki AlShaikh – the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the man behind all the boxing in Riyadh – will pick the other.
Crucially, the fights were meant to be kept a secret until being revealed at a London press conference, according to Hearn.
Hrgovic is promoted by Matchroom, while Dubois is represented by Queensbury. When combined with the date mentioned by Shields, it adds up that this will be one of the fights on the five-vs-five event.
Hrgovic Mandatory For IBF Title
“We have just found out that Hrgovic is going to fight on June 1 and it is supposed to be against Daniel Dubois,” Shields told W.A.W Boxing. “In Saudi [Arabia].”
Should Shields be proved right, it will be interesting to see whether Hrgovic’s fight with Dubois is for the IBF world title. The IBF is expected to make its heavyweight belt vacant after Oleksandr Usyk, who also holds the WBA and WBO titles, puts it on the line against WBC champion Tyson Fury for the undisputed championship on May 18 – also in Riyadh.
Usyk will be unable to defend the IBF title against mandatory challenger Hrgovic because the Ukrainian is contracted to a rematch with Fury, which is expected to be held in Octover.
If or when the IBF vacates the title that happens, Hrgovic had been expected to fight former two-time heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua for the belt. However, Joshua will not be part of the June 1 bill, which is expected be headlined by the undisputed light-heavyweight title fight between unified champion Artur Beterbiev and WBA title holder Dimitry Bivol.
Joshua To Face Winner Of Hrgovic Vs Dubois?
That could open the door for Joshua, who knocked out MMA star Francis Ngannou in his most recent fight, to face the winner of Hrgovic vs Dubois.
Hrgovic (17-0-0 14 KO) is unbeaten in his pro career but the Croatian is yet to be truly tested. The best scalp on his record so far is former WBO interim champion Zhilei Zhang, whom he beat on points in August 2022. His most recent fight was an embarrassingly easy first-round win over Mark De Mori – a fighter who taught himself how to box on YouTube – on the Joshua vs Otto Wallin undercard in December.
Dubois (20-2-0 19 KO), meanwhile, has lost twice but the Briton has mixed in far better company. He has fought for a world title once, getting stopped by unified champion Usyk in the ninth round of their August 2023 bout. There was, however, plenty of controversy as Dubois knocked Usyk down but it was deemed a low blow.
Dubois’s last fight also took place on the Joshua vs Wallin undercard, when he stopped Jarrell Miller in the 10th and final round of a thrilling bout.
