Daniel Dubois is the new IBF Interim Heavyweight Champion after upsetting the odds against Filip Hrgovic in Riyadh on Saturday night.
A Queensberry vs Matchroom card was topped off by two big heavyweight clashes. In the main event, giant Chinese heavyweight Zhilei Zhang most likely put an end to Deontay Wilder’s career at the highest level with a fifth round stoppage victory.
Before that, Dubois stepped in the ring against the then number one ranked IBF fighter, Filip Hrgovic. The Croatian had been dismissive of the Brit in the build up and was made to pay for those words. Hrgovic started strong and seemingly couldn’t miss with the right hand, but Dubois weathered the storm and started to assert his dominance in the mid rounds.
In the eighth, ‘DDD’ had his man in trouble on several occasions before the referee called for the ringside doctor to look at Hrgovic’s deep cuts around his eyes. On doctor’s advice, the fight was waived off and Dubois’ redemption journey was complete.
Before the contest, the winner was tipped to face Anthony Joshua in September at Wembley Stadium where the full world title may well be on the line.
Speaking to Seconds Out about the potential match-up between Dubois and Joshua, trainer turned pundit Teddy Atlas said he had to favour ‘AJ’ to get the win.
“He [Joshua] became happier, he became better and you saw it in his performances and Ben Davison was part of that, helping AJ find himself and he’s in a really good place right now.
You have to favour him, you have to from the lens I look at. You have to favour him going into this fight and there is one thing Dubois will have to get better at, continually, defence. His heart, his perseverance, his mentality, his endurance, his conditioning, all of it got him through those first few rounds against Hrgovic. But he got hit with a lot of clean right hands, you’re not going to want to get hit with those against Joshua.”
Joshua was ringside in Saudi Arabia to get a close look since a win against his countryman could now see him become a three-time heavyweight champion.
