ALMOST as important as being able to fight these days is being able to talk a good one and Croatian heavyweight Alen ‘The Savage’ Babic, though very much unproven, appears to be working hard on developing this particular area of his game.
Currently 4-0 as a pro, Babic was given a deliberate push by promoter, Eddie Hearn, ahead of his appearance in August’s Fight Camp (a second round TKO of Shawndell Winters) and is now working hard to build on the momentum it created.
Yet to go further than two rounds, he is, at 29, seemingly eager to start challenging some more established heavyweights.
“They are mentioning (a fight against) Tom Little for next month,” Babic told Sky Sports’ Toe 2 Toe podcast. I said, ‘Of course I’m in.’”
“I want Dave Allen because it would be easy to bring out ‘The Savage’ because I don’t like him!
“Little is a genuinely nice guy and it would be hard to bring ‘The Savage’ out. But for Allen? It would be natural.”
Beyond Allen and Little, both of whom make sense for Babic from a UK interest standpoint, the fight that carries most appeal for the Croatian is one against countryman Filip Hrgovic, unbeaten in 10 and an Olympic bronze medallist.
As well as a match between Croatians, any future bout between Babic and Hrgovic would be a coming together of two vastly different personalities. For while the outspoken Babic is the one making noise with his mouth, it is Hrgovic who has so far gone about things quietly, registering solid pro wins against the likes of Eric Molina, Kevin Johnson and Amir Mansour.
“He (Hrgrovic) is a boy born with a silver spoon in his mouth,” Babic said. “I’m all street. We are opposites, we are so opposite, I will never be like him. He has nice cars; I drive a 15-year-old SEAT Ibiza. I don’t care, I just want to do damage.
“I would smother him. I beat Shawndell Winters in the press conference. Hrgovic can’t take that because I bring the streets with me. I bring my life experience. Can he beat all that?
“UK people like real talk. Hrgovic doesn’t have real talk. He just says, ‘I’m the best, I’m the prettiest.’ That’s fake.”
With no wins of note on his 4-0 record, Babic himself remains all talk at this stage. Yet it cannot be denied his talk is full of conviction, nor that he has the personality required to make a splash in a heavyweight division forever in need of characters.
