Alen “The Savage” Babić: From nightclub bouncer to world title contender  

Alen Babić (left) (Instagram/Alen Babić)

Croatian boxer Alen “The Savage” Babić is just one fight away from becoming a world champion. The explosive Babić will fight for the WBC bridgerweight title against Lukasz Rozanski on 22 April in Poland.

‘The Savage’, who holds a professional undefeated record of 11 wins and 0 losses with 10 knockouts, has had a meteoric rise in the sport. 

From his humble beginnings growing up in the Croatian coastal town of Rovinj, Babić has built a cult following in the UK, who are known as the Savage Army, since turning pro in 2019. He fights under promoter Eddie Hearn.

‘The Savage’, who was given the nickname by Dillian Whyte, says it was a conversation with a lady whilst he was working at a hotel in his hometown of Rovinj that changed his life forever.

“One woman came up to me at work and said go bye a security guy. I was big, bald-headed guy, around 90-100 kgs and on her advice I moved to Rijeka with nothing at 19 years of age and it was there I fell in love with boxing. That woman really changed my life,” Babić told the All Things Croatia podcast. 

Nothing has ever come easy for ‘The Savage’, who worked for a decade as a nightclub bouncer.

“I saw boxing was my way out, and I stuck with it. For many years it was bad. I was winning everything by knockout by everyone was against me and it wasn’t good for the first 2-3 years,” he reveals. 

On the podcast, Babić talks more about those early days, about his being part of Tyson Fury’s training camp, how Fury told him he has no doubt he will be a world champion, his thoughts on Jake Paul, and his controversial thoughts on the Rocky movies.

Watch the episode below.