{"id":75054,"date":"2025-08-17T12:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T12:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/75054\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T12:57:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T12:57:07","slug":"adeleye-laments-his-missed-chance-in-hrgovic-step-up-shot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/75054\/","title":{"rendered":"Adeleye laments his missed chance in Hrgovic step-up shot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having stressed a desire to test himself among the world’s elite, David Adeleye<\/a> fell short of the mark as many predicted against longtime heavyweight contender Filip Hrgovic<\/a>.
Two months shy of two full years since his seventh-round stoppage defeat by Fabio Wardley<\/a>, their career trajectories have gone in different directions. Here, the 28-year-old suffered a second professional defeat and this one will sting even more than the first did.<\/p>\n

After changing coach and tack following a humbling loss on Saudi shores, Adam Booth and a new environment instilled renewed self-belief in the six-year pro. <\/p>\n

He worked away in silence for a while, embracing the role of student and soaking up knowledge from a wise trainer who was at the wheel for someone he sought to emulate: two-division world champion David Haye. <\/p>\n

Having gone from a Mini Cooper to a Ferrari – his words – in stepping up levels from a British title fight with former sparring partner Jeamie Tshikeva<\/a> to The Ring’s No. 6-rated heavyweight Hrgovic, producing an upset four months later was going to be a tough ask.<\/p>\n

Yet he had fleeting moments of success against the well-seasoned Croatian to suggest he could’ve done much better with more consistent output across an exhausting 10-round contest.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“I’m a bit pissed with myself, being honest, yeah. I should’ve let my hands go a bit more, started punching out of range and relying on my power rather than my skillset,” he told The Ring’s Louis Hart in his dressing room afterwards. <\/p>\n

“I don’t think the world has seen it yet, I have a high skillset but need to show it to the world.”<\/p>\n

If ever there was an advert for irrational confidence, the Ladbroke Grove native presented himself front-and-centre with that line. Everyone knows about his athletic base and highlight reel left hook, but Hrgovic absorbed his best and kept walking forward anyway. <\/p>\n

Even an inspired 30-second salvo throwing punches galore deep into round eight, after being dropped heavily earlier in the frame, wasn’t enough to turn the tide in his favour. <\/p>\n

While his toughness was praised, this came as a bittersweet feeling given he only won one round on two of the judges’ scorecards. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“I already knew I was tough, everyone knows I’m not just talking, I’m a fighter that backs it up so definitely a good feeling but everyone around me – my coaches – they know the sort of fighter I am.<\/p>\n

“If I did it again [throwing repeatedly at Hrgovic], he wouldn’t have been standing there at the final bell and that’s why I let myself down. I’ve got no scars, will be back in the gym so if anyone has got something crazy to say, come and see me, I’ll fight them next.”<\/p>\n

His promoter, Queensberry chief Frank Warren, wasn’t impressed with the punch output nor selection against a wounded veteran who again found ways to win. Immediately afterwards, he told BBC: “David didn’t do enough work and wasn’t using his jab. Hrgovic had been doubling up his own and letting the right hand go, Adeleye didn’t throw enough punches.<\/p>\n

“He came back and started throwing punches but still lost a 10-8 round [in round eight]. Hrgovic is what he is, a tough old-style heavyweight who walks forward, had a bad cut here and David didn’t take advantage, hardly threw a jab to the eye to make it worse so I’m quite disappointed in his performance.”<\/p>\n

Compubox stats: Adeleye’s 18 punches landed in round eight was a fight-high figure for him, whereas Hrgovic reached or surpassed that figure in nine of their ten contested rounds. Hrgovic threw more than double Adeleye’s punch total (510-to-244) and was 7% more accurate overall on shots landed against a younger man who couldn’t sustain it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Having stressed a desire to test himself among the world’s elite, David Adeleye fell short of the mark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,58051,58050,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-75054","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-david-adeleye","12":"tag-filip-hrgovic","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}