Filip Hrgovic has claimed that he ‘destroyed’ Daniel Dubois in sparring to the point that the young Brit postponed a fight.
It’s been no secret that Hrgovic – current IBF mandatory challenger – has been keen to lace up and step through the ropes with Dubois – the WBA Regular Champion.
They’ve come up the ranks at around the same time, and some hints at sparring stories have fuelled a bit of a rivalry.
Hrgovic has reignited the claims that he got the better of Dubois in the gym, telling IFL TV there were people who could confirm it.
“You mention Daniel Dubois. I spar with him years ago in London. I destroyed him. He postponed the fight after sparring session with me. You can ask the people. There were a lot of people in the gym.”
Hrgovic and Dubois shared pictures from sparring all the way back in January 2018 in London. Towards the end of that month a fight between Dubois and Dave Jones for the Southern Area Title was indeed postponed, however it was due to a chest infection.
Many fighters feel it bad practice to share stories from sparring, but Hrgovic clearly has a bone to pick with team Dubois, branding his promoter, Frank Warren, a ‘f***ing piece of s**t’ later in the interview.
Regardless of what happened years ago, fans would like to see the pair in the ring together for real.
The two heavyweight contenders currently find themselves in a queue to challenge Unified Heavyweight World champion, Oleksandr Usyk, with Dubois first in line and Hrgovic nipping at his heels.
The third mandatory is now Zhilei Zhang, following the Chinese heavyweight’s dismantling of Joe Joyce in London. It’s the latest interesting shift in a division with huge potential, but not much in the way of announcements.