Daniel Dubois stopped Filip Hrgovic in 2024, but Hrgovic believes a rematch would be easier for him than his recent win over Moses Itauma. His argument comes down to speed and stance. It leaves out what Dubois did after Hrgovic found him.
During their initial clash in 2024, Hrgovic discovered zero trouble finding Dubois with flush right hands. He landed them repeatedly, and it meant nothing. Dubois absorbed that punishment, marched forward through the artillery, and chopped Hrgovic down in the eighth round after ripping the Croatian’s face apart with heavy lacerations. Dubois proved that hand speed and southpaw angles mean very little when an iron-chinned puncher refuses to back down.
“I think fights against Kabayel and Dubois would be easier than this fight,” Hrgovic stated to talkSPORT Boxing. “Stylistically, speedwise, they will be much easier fights because they’re not so fast. They’re not southpaws. They’re easier to box.”
That is insane logic from an experienced fighter. Itauma faded badly down the stretch because he is a young fighter lacking professional mileage. Dubois operates as an entirely different animal. Dubois applies unrelenting physical pressure, throws heavy leather through the guard, and relishes violent exchanges. Hrgovic found the target in their first bout; he simply lacked the firepower to keep the bigger puncher off his chest. The damage Dubois inflicted on Hrgovic’s scar tissue will reopen in an instant if they share a ring again.
Hrgovic admitted he contemplated retirement in the immediate aftermath of his war with Itauma, showing the mental and physical toll of top-tier prizefighting. Heavyweights contemplating walking away are already feeling the wear on their tires.
Before Hrgovic can even daydream about a lucrative unification payday with Dubois, he must deal with mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez. The slick Cuban possesses the ring discipline and counter-punching ability to derail those stadium dreams in an instant. If Hrgovic treats dangerous contenders as mere stepping stones while chasing a Dubois rematch, he will quickly discover that getting demolished twice by the same man is a dreadful career strategy.
The IBF is historically ruthless about stripping champions who attempt to sidestep their mandatory obligations, and Frank Sanchez already took step-aside money once so Hrgovic and Itauma could contest the vacant title.
Sanchez and his team have zero incentive to sit on their hands again. They smell blood; they know Hrgovic absorbed heavy punishment to get that belt, and they want their shot. Treating Sanchez as an afterthought is dangerous matchmaking arrogance. Sanchez may lack the raw fanfare of Dubois, but the Cuban possesses real ring IQ, sharp counter-punching, fast hands, and defensive discipline.
He does not brawl recklessly or empty his gas tank in three rounds like Itauma did. If Hrgovic enters the ring sluggish, overconfident, or nursing physical mileage from his previous war, Sanchez will happily box circles around him, pile up rounds, and snatch that IBF belt before Hrgovic ever sniffs a unification payday. As for an Itauma rematch, Frank Warren and Queensberry are not foolish to take that risk. Itauma showed he is currently an explosive, three-round frontrunner who melted under sustained veteran pressure.
Throwing a 21-year-old right back into the same firefight that just broke him mentally and physically would be silly. Itauma needs rebuilding against mid-tier opposition to learn pacing and distance control before he ever shares a ring with Hrgovic again. That leaves Hrgovic in a bind. The Dubois rematch is where the massive payday is, but Dubois is tied up with his own business, and Hrgovic cannot legally get to that fight with the IBF belt around his waist unless he handles Sanchez first.
If Hrgovic tries to bypass Sanchez, he gets stripped, loses his leverage, and ends up walking into a Dubois rematch as a battered contender rather than a reigning champion. He has to take the dangerous, low-reward Cuban fighter, and if his head is already in a stadium fight with Dubois, Sanchez is exactly the type of technician to ruin the entire script.
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