Filip Hrgovic-Daniel Dubois: IBF Condemns Interim Heavyweight Title At Risk
The stakes are officially raised in the heavyweight battle between Filip Hrgovic and Daniel Dubois.
They are just not as high as originally expected
A ring has confirmed that the IBF has agreed to sanction Hrgovic-Dubois as a heavyweight title fight. A temporary permit was granted on Thursday, and it was given the full blessing of the ruling body when the signed fighting agreements were received on Friday morning.
Hrgovic-Dubois is part of the June 1 pay-per-view event on DAZN from the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The fight was agreed upon a few weeks ago, although it was hoped that the full title would be available. Croatia's Hrgovic (17-0, 14 knockouts), The Ring's No. 6 ranked heavyweight, is the one forced to challenge for the IBF title.
Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs) will bid for a second title.
The 26-year-old Londoner held the WBA 'Regular' heavyweight title, which he lost in the 9th round to Usyk in their title unification bout last August 26 in Wroclaw, Poland. Dubois rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Jarrell Miller (26-1-1, 22 KOs) last Dec. 23 at Kingdom Arena. Hrgovic appeared on the same card, where he knocked out Mark de Mori in the first round.
Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) is the division's RING and undisputed heavyweight champion. The undefeated Ukrainian entered his May 18 unification fight against Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) knowing that his IBF reign could be on the line, even if he wins.
Allowed Usyk to face Fury instead of being forced to face Hrgovic. Usyk defeated Fury by split decision to become the split champion.
Their memorable clash resulted in a rematch clause, which Fury initiated days later. Usyk did the same by filing an exception with the IBF to avoid being stripped of the title.
Friday's decision is a compromise that has satisfied all parties, at least for now.
Syk-Fury was delayed for three months when Fury was concussed in training camp. That created a problem with the mandatory status of the IBF. The matter was also barred from the repetition of the agreement bound by the contract, although the sanctioning bodies are not aware of such clauses.
Another setback arose when it was discovered that Usyk-Fury II would take place in December instead of October. There is still a risk that Syk will be stripped of the IBF title at that time.
Croatia's Hrgovic has become the top contender in the IBF heavyweight division since August 2022 with a win over Zhilei Zhang. Ring's No. 6-rated heavyweight has fought twice since then, largely due to the mandatory opponent rotation system for the combined title roster. There has also been trouble finding serious opposition even with the interim IBF title at stake.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
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