After suffering a third-round stoppage defeat to Filip Hrgovic in May, Dave Allen has considered whether the Croatian could exact his revenge on Daniel Dubois.
The 34-year-old became his nation’s first world heavyweight champion in August, claiming the vacant IBF title by scoring a dramatic ninth-round finish over Moses Itauma.
Prior to the stoppage, Hrgovic had suffered a second-round knockdown and was generally getting outclassed by his faster and more explosive opponent.
By absorbing many of Itauma’s best punches, though, ‘El Animal’ eventually capitalised on a window of opportunity to get the exhausted 21-year-old out of there.
As a result, he is now set to face mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez in the new year, before targeting unification matches with the likes of Dubois and WBC champion Agit Kabayel.
First, Dubois must retain his WBO title against Fabio Wardley this Saturday after surviving two knockdowns and scoring a 11th-round stoppage in their May encounter.
Then, if both heavyweights win their next respective contests, a rematch between the 29-year-old and Hrgovic could become realistic in 2027.
Allen, meanwhile, has told talkSPORT that, despite losing emphatically to Hrgovic earlier this year, he would confidently back Dubois to emerge victorious.
“I don’t see him overturning the Dubois fight. Hrgovic, when I boxed him – as strong as he was, as good as he was – didn’t punch hard enough, in my opinion, to keep a guy like Daniel Dubois off him.”
Dubois did, of course, win their first encounter via an eighth-round stoppage in June 2024, but only because Hrgovic had sustained cuts over both eyes.
