The feared heavyweight dangerman waiting for the winner of Hrgovic-Adeleye

Independent

a day ago

This weekend will see an intriguing heavyweight match between Filip Hrgovic and David Adeleye.
Broadcast as part of the card headlined by Moses Itauma and Dillian Whyte, broadcast live on DAZN, the ten-round bout will see Hrgovic, 18-1 (14), return after outpointing Joe Joyce earlier this year.
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In the opposite corner will be vaunted prospect Adeleye, 14-1 (13).
Both men come into the ring with a single loss: Hrgovic lost in eight rounds to Daniel Dubois in June last year in Riyadh when the ring doctor said that the cuts above his eyes were too severe for him to continue. Adeleye, meanwhile, was stopped in seven rounds by Fabio Wardley in the same venue in October 2023.
This forthcoming fight on Saturday is likely to define the careers of both. A loss will direct its owner towards becoming a gatekeeper for the division. A win will propel the other towards the orbit of contender-hood.
The momentum seems to be with Hrgovic, who is 33 years old and stands at 6'6'. Aside from the loss to Dubois, Hrgovic holds victory over Joyce, Zhilei Zhang, Rydell Booker, and Eric Molina – all good, but not great. Adeleye, on the other hand, has yet to face anyone of that calibre – apart from Wardley, who stopped him.
To put it simply – Hrgovic's loss, on a cut, strengthened his position as contender. Adeleye was diminished by the reverse to Wardley.
Perhaps a usual piece of comparison is in the one opponent shared by the two.
In 2021, Hrgovic fought Emir Ahmatovic in Las Vegas, winning by stoppage in three rounds after repeatedly knocking down his opponent. Around eighteen months later, Adeleye needed five rounds to do the same at the York Hall in Bethnal Green, London.
There are few hometown decisions on fights held in Riyadh, noted boxing writer Thomas Hauser wrote recently. So it is a fair assumption that neither fighter will seemingly benefit from 'wishful' scoring.
But if the winds are favouring Hrgovic, what comes next?
Well, it has been reported in recent months that Frank Warren, who co-promotes this weekend's card, is looking at putting on a big show later this year in Germany. A rumour reached me recently that the potential card could feature Agit Kabayel, 26-0 (18), facing the winner of this weekend's bout between Hrgovic and Adeleye. That should occur in the final three months of the year.
Kabayel facing the winner of Hrgovic-Adeleye marks a good route for the heavyweight division to take. Kabayel, while undefeated, is good enough to fight for a championship but not popular enough for a heavyweight champion to want to take a risk in fighting.
At present, Kabayel holds the interim WBC title, and is waiting for a full shot at Oleksandr Usyk. That is unlikely to happen as it seems Usyk will have a third fight against Tyson Fury before retirement. But a match for him against Hrgovic or Adeleye is a good springboard to wider popularity. And a loss to either would well position Hrgovic or Adeleye for a title challenge.
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