David Adeleye takes on the toughest test of his career when he faces Filip Hrgovic on Aug. 16 in Riyadh. While he may not be favoured to leave Saudi Arabia with victory, the rewards for doing so could be massive.

Adeleye (14-1, 13 KOs) has fought once in Saudi before. In October 2023 he was knocked out by Fabio Wardley in the seventh round of their British and commonwealth heavyweight title clash on the undercard of Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou.

Since then, he’s built his way back into contention and even won the Lonsdale belt in his last fight. Hrgovic (18-1, 14 KOs), however, is a different proposition altogether, and is coming off a bruising points win over Joe Joyce.
Hrgovic also boasts a win over Zhilei Zhang and looked well on his way to victory over Daniel Dubois in June 2024 before being battered and stopped on cuts himself late in the fight.
Adeleye had options following his April win over Jamie ‘TKV’ Tshikeva and was even ordered into a rematch with his former sparring partner. But a date with Hrgovic on Esports World Cup Fight Week in the Middle East was chosen instead and he’ll be hoping that fortune really does favour the brave when they clash on the undercard of Moses Itauma-Dillian Whyte – live on DAZN PPV.

Last fight: Defeated Jamie ‘TKV’ Tshikeva via sixth-round TKO in controversial circumstances after some questionable referee involvement. Adeleye had arguably lost every round up to that point but ultimately closed the show after landing a left hook on Tshikeva’s chin after a break call from referee Ron Kearney.

Odds: A sizeable underdog, Adeleye is priced at around 5/1 to beat favourite Hrgovic. Some other bookmakers have him priced at 9/2 and 19/5.

How does Adeleye win? If the Londoner wants to upset the odds, he’s going to have to use the one thing he has over Hrgovic: youth. The 28-year-old is only five years younger than his opponent, but Hrgovic has plenty more mileage on the clock after an extensive amateur career, and he’s also been in more gruelling fights as a professional.

It’s not arguable that Hrgovic is the better boxer. He’s also got a solid chin and has never been brutally knocked out. So while Adeleye might feel his easiest route to victory is to go for broke, he might be better off using his legs, his jab and his straight right to inflict cumulative damage on the Croatian, whose only defeat, to Dubois over a year ago, came as a result of that: cumulative damage.

Hrgovic is susceptible to mid-fight exhaustion, too, so if Adeleye can get to a point where he’s still in the fight and Hrgovic begins to tire just after the sixth or seventh round, youthfulness may have a pivotal role to play when he eventually decides to go for the kill.

What it means if he wins: A win for Adeleye puts him amongst that secondary group of world-level fighters in the heavyweight division, who are all angling to receive title shots.

With the heavyweight belts in Oleksandr Usyk‘s possession, getting one of those is hard to come by, but once the titles fragment, mandatory challengers will step forward and vacant title fights will be made. If Adeleye can beat Hrgovic, who last year just fought in a vacant title fight himself, it puts him right in the mix.
What they’re saying: “I ain’t got no demons,” Adeleye told The Ring. “There are worse things going on in the world. There aren’t any demons here for me. I just do what I do and what I do is fight. Yes I came up short last time, but I will not be coming up short this time. I feel like I’m back in the swing of things now, 100 percent. And now I’m involved in the big, big fight. Listen, he’s just another man with two arms and two legs. He isn’t God, he isn’t nothing.”
TV/Stream: Filip Hrgovic versus David Adeleye and the whole Esports World Cup Fight Week fight card will be available to stream live on DAZN Pay Per-View. The event is priced at £19.99 in the United Kingdom, $19.99 in the United States, €19.99 in Europe and $39.99 in Australia.