Keys to Victory: Where will Dave Allen and Filip Hrgovic land major damage?

The Croatian fighter will look to be every bit of ‘Goliath’ tonight when he clashes with Allen at Eco-Power Stadium in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England, and live on DAZN.

Allen (25-8-2, 20 KOs) had a bittersweet 2025, knocking out Johnny Fisher in their May rematch before suffering a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Arslanbek Makhmudov in October. The ‘White Rhino’ did rebound from that loss by producing a first-round TKO of Karim Berredjem in February. Tonight, Dave will be trying to defeat ‘Goliath’ in the form of a Hrgovic (19-1, 14 KOs), who is battle-tested, having ring experience with Daniel Dubois and Zhilei Zhang to name a few. The Croatian heavyweight delivered a pair of unanimous decisions over Joe Joyce and David Adeleye four months apart last year.

Will Allen find a way toward his greatest upset yet? Or will Hrgovic overwhelm the underdog definitively? DAZN News analyzes the Keys to Victory for both heavyweights.

Dave Allen’s Keys to Victory

Get inside of Hrgovic’s jab

Dave Allen is surrendering three inches in height and seven inches of reach to Filip Hrgovic.

Therefore, it is imperative that the British heavyweight maneuvers his way inside. This could be done by sheer determination to barge his way into the phone booth — even if it means eating a shot to get there. Or it could be done by landing a blow and plowing ahead.

Whip hooks and overhand shots around the guard

Watch Allen in action and he whips hooks and overhand shots around the guard well.

Both tools will be necessary if Allen is going to pull off the upset as he could unleash the overhand right with ring real estate between he and Hrgovic, or the hook when inching a bit closer.

Resort to bully boxing

Having the extra weight really aided Allen against a bigger, taller fighter in Fisher. Though Allen weighed in at his lightest weight in over seven years, he could still resort to bully tactics with Hrgovic. Using the clinch and sapping the Croatian’s energy by leaning on him would be fair play for Allen's pursuit of the upset.

Either tactic could also help Allen free up his deceivingly-quick hands enough to perhaps land a fight-altering shot.

Filip Hrgovic’s Keys to Victory

Establish range, pluck away

With seven inches of reach advantage over Dave Allen, Filip Hrgovic needs to establish his range with the power jab.

If the jab finds an early home, Hrgovic can use it to pluck away at the distance before introducing heavier-handed artillery.

Time an incoming Allen

It’s a safe bet that Allen is going to plow forward to negate Hrgovic’s reach.

What Allen lacks in footwork, he makes up for with persistence. Still, Hrgovic can time and catch an incoming Allen with the jab and combinations or sharp counterpunches. All will secure Hrgovic points, rounds and possibly a stoppage.

Don’t stand too upright

At 6-foot-6, Hrgovic has a tendency to stand too upright, which sometimes does more to hurt him than help.

When the Croatian stands too upright, he’s stiff with his head movement, not bothering to move off the center line. That makes him vulnerable to quick punches straight down the middle or hooks that come around the guard.

That Allen has blunt power behind unheralded quick hands could present Hrgovic with major problems if he cannot keep the Doncaster man at the end of his jab.