Filip Hrgovic has opened up about his loss to Daniel Dubois, comparing it to Anthony Joshua's defeat against the same opponent. The Croatian heavyweight shared his thoughts in a recent chat with The Ring Magazine.
Hrgovic's fight with Dubois happened in June 2023 as part of a big Saudi Arabia event pitting Matchroom fighters against those from Queensberry. Going into the bout, Hrgovic was the favorite. He'd even talked about Dubois having weak points in his defense and mental game.
But things didn't go as planned. Dubois stopped Hrgovic in the eighth round. Now, Hrgovic admits he made some big mistakes.
"I took him too lightly and underestimated him, thought it'd be a much easier fight for me. I lost my energy after five or six rounds, could hardly see his punches coming from the second round, had two deep cuts and they affected my vision, my focus and gave him confidence to push me."
Hrgovic says he got his tactics wrong too. He gave Dubois too much room to attack and didn't put enough pressure on him. He also relied too much on landing one big right hand.
Interestingly, Hrgovic thinks Joshua made similar errors when he fought Dubois.
"I made a mistake giving him too much space to move forward, should've pressed him more to go backwards, needed to block his jab and move my head more. I was too confident that one big right would land and he'd go down, Joshua made the same mistake by letting him come forward, trying to catch him with counters, we both did the same."
Hrgovic isn't dwelling on the past, though. He's got a big fight coming up on April 5th in Manchester. He'll face Joe Joyce, the former WBO interim heavyweight champ, on short notice. It's a crucial match for both fighters – losing would be a major setback at this point in their careers.
You can read more about Hrgovic's interview and his thoughts on the Dubois fight on The Ring Magazine's website. For details on his upcoming bout with Joyce, check out ESPN's coverage.
