Filip Hrgovic may have punched his ticket to a showdown with Moses Itauma after outclassing Dave Allen in Doncaster on Saturday night.
What looked a mismatch on paper proved to be exactly that in reality as the Zagreb heavyweight needed just three rounds to put a full stop on Allen’s tales of the unexpected against better opposition.
With ponchos on hand, the fans inside the Keepmoat Stadium ignored the drizzle in true British style to enjoy an evening of boxing which witnessed a potential new welterweight star in Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev, an improving British lightweight champion in Louis O’Doherty, and potentially his next opponent in Michael Gomez Jr, who proved that a good big guy beats a good little guy against Lee McGregor.
There’s levels to this
But the pull of the main event — dare-to-dream narratives and fairytale endings — brought enough belief to cheer on Allen. In truth, however, he barely laid a glove on Hrgovic (20-1, 15 KOs) The WBO’s number one contender, one spot behind Itauma, needed to demonstrate the term ‘levels’ and do so emphatically if he is to be ready for the heavyweight division’s newest sensation in August.
After his one-sided victory, the 33-year-old sported a slight nick above his left eye which could delay any potential August date. But according to Hrgovic’s promoter, Queensberry Promotions, that fight is almost ready to be announced. Frank Warren’s outfit were behind tonight’s David vs Goliath promotion and his son George was on hand to discuss the matter with DAZN’s Ade Oladipo afterwards.
“That fight’s there, it’s done. Filip, when he re-signed with Queensberry – he contracted with Queensberry on the basis that that’s one of the options that we can put to him.
“He’s got a slight nick on his eye and he needs to go and make sure that’s okay. Moses is booked for August. But as soon as we’re back in the office next week, that’s my job, to try and get that fight made and get it announced. We want to continue with what we’ve been building in the heavyweight division on DAZN. Keep delivering great fights for the British boxing fans.
“This guy [Hrgovic] is a world-class operator and if Moses is going to be a world champion, and Filip wants to be a world champion, they’re going to have to get it on at some point so let’s get on with it now.”
Itauma vs Hrgovic will, of course, not play out like the target practice the Croat participated in against Allen. The Brit was out of his depth early on and a sluggish overhand right appeared to be the shot he was searching for throughout. Hrgovic, however, fought at an excellent distance and teed off to head and body for the duration of the fight before a combination of referee Steve Gray and Allen’s trainer Jamie Moore decided they had seen enough in the third.
Financial gain
Allen’s promoter Eddie Hearn paid tribute to his charge afterwards and proudly stated that ‘The White Rhino’ is now in a strong financial position which has secured his family’s future. His love for fighting, however, could see Allen return to domestic level where the British title remains a realistic goal for the 34-year-old.
In the end, this did prove to be a bridge to Itauma for Hrgovic. Thankfully, it was stopped when it was because Allen — despite not looking out on his feet — was shipping heavy shots, particularly to the head.
If Hrgovic needed a warm-up, did it have to be a mismatch turned into a stadium main event? It felt unnecessary and, frankly, dangerous considering Allen (25-9-2, 20 KOs) could not overcome Arslanbek Makhmudov, a fighter not of Hrgovic’s calibre, last year. But boxing rarely learns from nights like this and we will almost certainly see similar events again in the future. Thankfully, it seems as though Allen can return to his wife and children healthy and paid handsomely for a task that was well above his pay grade.
Hrgovic’s quest to become a world champion was halted by Daniel Dubois a few years ago and against Itauma the challenge could prove even greater. Tonight we learned little beyond the fact that Hrgovic did exactly what he had to do in order to move forward to a meeting with Moses.
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