Promoters Matchroom and Queensberry pit five of their best fighters against each other on June 1, but there’s plenty more than bragging rights on the line for heavyweights Filip Hrgovic, Daniel Dubois, Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang.
The tournament concept has delighted boxing fans and ensured a stacked card from top to bottom, with Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren staking their reputations on a handful of boxers and a points system, complete with double scores for captains, to determine the winning team.
Whilst the Wilder-Zhang bout topping the bill is a battle of two ageing but ferocious punchers fighting to have one last crack at a title run, it’s 31-year-old heavyweight Filip Hrgovic who says he will hang up the gloves if he loses to the UK’s Dubois.
Hrgovic has been IBF number one contender for some time now, and is edging ever closer to a title shot. Whether that be against current undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk in the future or a fight for the vacant belt if Usyk isn’t allowed to keep hold of it, the Croatian is within touching distance of his career-long goal.
Speaking to IFL TV, ‘El Animal’ was clear that his career would be over if 26-year-old ‘Dynamite’ Dubois can beat him.
“Of course [I would retire if I lose]. How can I live with that? I think I’m the best. I worked hard 18 years in this sport like a f****** maniac. So if I lose to Dubois, f*** that s*** man – obviously I’m not as good as I think I am. So I would retire.”
Like most top-level heavyweights, the pair have sparred in the past. Whilst Dubois is keen to show that he has improved drastically, Hrgovic believes the outcome will be the same.
“I don’t know why he mentioned that sparring, because that sparring was not so good for him. He should be quiet about that. He said he changed – of course he changed. He was young at that time of sparring, but I was young as well.
He has definitely improved, but you can never change your character, you can never change who you are as a man. I’m confident I will repeat that sparring [result] on June 1.”
