Filip Hrgovic vs Dave Allen Preview May 16th, 2026
Croatia’s top heavyweight Filip Hrgovic is back in action this Saturday, May 16th when he takes in Dave Allen of Doncaster, England. The 10-round heavyweight tilt from Allen’s hometown can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Hrgovic last fought in August when he beat David Adeleye via a wide 10-round unanimous decision in an entertaining tilt to retain his WBO International Heavyweight Belt. He won the vacant belt in his previous outing with a 10-round unanimous decision over Joe Joyce. Hrgovic was stopped by Daniel Dubois due to severe cuts in the eighth round in June, 2024 in a shot at the IBF Interim Title for the lone defeat on his pro record. Allen was last in the ring February when he halted Karim Berredjem of France in just 57 seconds.
Hrgovic vs Allen Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Dave Allen +600
- Filip Hrgovic -1000
My Pick
The 33-year-old Hrgovic enters the ring with a mark of 19-1 with 14 Ko’s and has gone 102 rounds since making his pro debut in 2015. He measures 6-feet-6-inches tall with an 82-inch reach, which gives him a three-inch height advantage and seven-inch reach edge on Allen. He has good power in his fists as 73.7 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage, but he’s stopped just two of his last six opponents. Until beating Zhilei Zhang by a controversial 12-round unanimous decision in 2022, Hrgovic’s biggest wins were against the likes of Marko Radonjic, Rydell Booker, Pavel Sour, Tom Little, Sean Turner, Amir Mansour, Kevin Johnson, Gregory Corbin and Eric Molina.
The five opponents to go the distance with him so far have been Johnson over eight rounds in 2018; Turner over eight rounds the same year; Zhang over 12 rounds in 2022 and both Joyce and Adeleye last year. Hrgovic’s first 12 knockouts came within the first five rounds and he stopped Demsey McKean in the 12th and final round in 2023. Hrgovic stopped Mansour in the third round in 2018 to take the vacant WBC International Heavyweight Title and defended it three times. He then won the IBF International belt against Booker in 2020 and defended it twice.
Hrgovic enjoyed a fine amateur career and won a bronze medal as a super heavyweight at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He also reached the quarterfinals at the 2011, 2013 and 2015 World Amateur Championships and won the 2010 Youth World Championships as well as the 2015 European Championships. In addition, Hrgovic went 25-4 with 10 Ko’s in the World Series of Boxing from 2010 to 2015. His loss to Dubois was highly entertaining as they both landed numerous solid blows throughout the fight.
Allen is now 34 years old and climbs into the squared circle with a mark of 25-8-2 with 20 Ko’s. He made his pro debut in 2012 following his amateur career and has boxed 157 rounds since. He’s got decent size for a heavyweight at 6-feet-3-inches with a 75-inch reach but gives up quite a bit of size this weekend. Allen’s biggest wins have been against former heavyweight belt holder Lucas Browne of Australia when he stopped him in the third round in April, 2019 and his recent stoppage of Johnny Fisher.
Allen’s most recent defeat came last October when he dropped a 12-round unanimous decision to Arslanbek Makhmudov with his opponent being deducted a point in the seventh and 12th rounds for holding. In his previous outing in May, Allen stopped Johnny Fisher in the fifth round of their rematch. The two first met six months earlier when Fisher won a controversial 10-round split decision after being dropped in the fifth round.
Allen’s other defeats were to David Price when he was stopped after 10 rounds in 2019; Tony Yoka by 10th-round stoppage in 2018; a 12-round split decision to Lenroy Thomas in 2017 for the vacant Commonwealth Heavyweight Crown; an eighth-round stoppage to Luis Ortiz in 2016; a 10-round unanimous decision to Dillian Whyte five months earlier in a shot at the vacant WBC International Heavyweight Title and a sixth-round stoppage to Frazer Clarke in 2023 when Allen had to pack it in on the stool after suffering a perforated eardrum.
His two draws were against Plamen Nikolov over four rounds in 2014 and a technical draw with Lenroy Thomas in 2018 for the Commonwealth Title. As we can see, Allen hasn’t had too much success when facing upper-class boxers such as Makhmudov, Clarke, Whyte and Ortiz and he hasn’t beaten anybody on the world level. Allen has a pair of pretty heavy hands though as 80 per cent of his wins have come by way of stoppage and so have 15 of his past 17 victories. But on the other side of the coin, his chin isn’t the greatest as he’s been halted in four of his eight defeats.
Prediction…
Allen usually comes out swinging and so far it’s been a relatively successful tactic for him due to his power. Of course, he’s also been stopped several times too and as Fabio Wardley found out last weekend, owning a lot of heart and power sometimes just isn’t enough. Hrgovic is a solid heavyweight with a good chin but of course Allen always carries around the puncher’s chance. Hrgovic should win this fight though as long as he lets his hands go and his chin holds out but he may have to go the distance to do so.
Hrgovic has the edge in size and skills.
Play Hrgovic -1000 @ BetOnline.ag
Check out my recent boxing betting picks to see my current form.
Dave Allen betting • Filip Hrgovic betting