- Two days from ring walks at the Eco-Power Stadium, Hrgovic vs Allen is finally a fight week not a press tour.
- Friday's open weigh-in is at the Frenchgate Market Place, doors at 4:30 and start at 5pm. The whole town is invited and most of it will be there.
- Luke's pick has not changed — Hrgovic by stoppage between rounds five and seven. The Itauma clause is the only reason this fight matters.
Right Then — Two Days Out, And The Town Has Filled Up
Right then. Two days from the ring walks at the Eco-Power Stadium in Doncaster and Dave Allen against Filip Hrgovic has finally tipped over from a press tour into a proper fight week. The open workout at the Frenchgate is done. The Bayern Munich line is done. Tomorrow is the public weigh-in at the Market Place — doors at 4:30, scales at 5 — and Saturday is the heavyweight eliminator that the loser of which probably never headlines a stadium card again.
Let's not beat around the bush. The reason this fight got made is that Frank Warren needed a new opponent for Moses Itauma on August 8 at the O2, and the cleanest way to find one was to put Hrgovic in front of the most popular heavyweight in Yorkshire and see who walks out with their reputation intact. Win, you get Itauma in three months. Lose, you go home and have a sit down. There is nothing else on the line.
What Allen Has To Do To Win
Allen has to make this an ugly fight. Properly ugly. Smother Hrgovic on the inside, lean on him, and give the Croatian as little space as possible to set his feet and throw the right hand. He is not going to outbox Hrgovic — nobody outboxes Hrgovic at 6'5" with that range — and he is not going to outwork him for twelve. What he can do is take the early rounds away with pressure, walk through one or two right hands in the middle session, and force Hrgovic into a fight Hrgovic does not really like fighting. That is how Joyce had moments with him. That is how Dubois eventually got him out of there.
The other thing Allen has on his side is the building. The Eco-Power Stadium is Doncaster Rovers' ground. He grew up around the corner. The Friday weigh-in at the Frenchgate is going to be packed with about 4,000 people in his face, all of whom are about three pints in by the time Allen steps on the scale. That is a different sort of pressure for a Croatian heavyweight who has spent most of his career on Riyadh undercards and US ring walks.
The Itauma Clause
Make no mistake — the Itauma clause is the only reason either fighter took this. Warren has been openly talking about August 8 at the O2 for weeks. Moses Itauma is 21 years old, undefeated, fast as anything, and is going to be a world champion before he turns 24. Whichever of Hrgovic or Allen survives Saturday gets named as his stadium-card opponent at the Monday press conference. The loser disappears from the heavyweight conversation. That is a brutal way to write a contract, but it is also exactly the sort of pressure that turns a regional eliminator into a real fight.
Luke's Prediction
Hrgovic by stoppage between rounds five and seven. Allen will have moments — he always has moments, and he will land at least one big shot in the second round that gets the crowd on their feet. He is a clever, tough, awkward heavyweight who knows exactly what he is good at. None of which is going to stop the right hand from a 17-1 Olympic medallist who has been waiting a year to remind people why he should be in the top five at heavyweight.
Around round four Hrgovic finds his range and starts taking the body shots that Allen has never really had an answer for. By round six Allen is breathing through his mouth, the corner is about to make the call, and the referee gets there first. Brilliant atmosphere, proper hometown fight week, and a serious heavyweight elimination night when the bell finally goes. Whoever Itauma fights on August 8 just got their name written on the contract on Saturday night.