Joe Joyce v Filip Hrgovic

[Master]

Britons Dillian Whyte and Joe Joyce will headline a heavyweight-stacked card at Manchester's Co-op Live Arena on Saturday, 5 April.

Olympian Delicious Orie will make his professional debut and former cruiserweight world champion Lawrence Okolie will take on Richard Riakporhe, who also moves up to heavyweight.

In another date on Queensberry Promotions' schedule, Belfast super-featherweight Anthony Cacace will face Leigh Wood in a battle between two former world champions at Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena on 10 May.

Later that month, former undisputed light-welterweight champion Josh Taylor will move to welterweight to challenge WBO European title holder Ekow Essuman in Glasgow.

Scotsman Taylor has signed with promoter Frank Warren's stable for his first fight since losing a rematch to Jack Catterall in May 2024.

The April card will be the first Queensberry Promotions event shown on streaming platform Dazn, as part of a new multi-year deal.

"We are starting as we mean to go on and, as you might expect, the heavyweights will play a big, big part in 2025 and beyond," Warren said.

"I am also so much looking forward to returning to Scotland with the nation's biggest star and our latest signing, Josh Taylor, headlining and rebooting his career at welterweight, where I believe he can again do big things."

Fighters from the three upcoming events will meet at a news conference at the Co-op Live Arena later on Monday, joined by Queensberry boss Warren.

Former WBO interim champion Joyce's world-title aspirations were derailed after back-to-back stoppage defeats by China's Zhilei Zhang in 2023. In July, the 39-year-old was dropped and outpointed by veteran Derek Chisora.

Whyte has won 31 fights with three defeats, but 'the Body Snatcher' has not really been in a meaningful fight since he narrowly beat Jermaine Franklin on points in 2022.

The 36-year-old returned a positive drugs test before a rematch with Anthony Joshua in August 2024 was cancelled.

He resumed his career after an investigation found the "adverse finding" in a pre-fight test was caused by a contaminated supplement.

While Joyce and Whyte are nearing the end of their careers, Orie - who represented Team GB at the 2024 Paris Olympics - will begin his pro journey.

The 27-year-old snubbed a career in the scripted world of wrestling entertainment to join the boxing paid ranks.

Meanwhile Cacace, 36, beat Joe Cordina to become world champion in Saudi Arabia in May 2024 before winning a non-title fight against Josh Warrington at Wembley Stadium in September.

He was due to face his mandatory challenger for the IBF title, Eduardo 'Sugar' Nunez, in his next bout but vacated his belt in pursuit of more lucrative fights.

Nottingham's Wood held the WBA featherweight title in 2023, but has not fought since beating Warrington in October 2023.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/a...s/cq5g1py750po

[Primo Carnera]

Just watched the presser for this, and while Dillian had everyone in stitches ripping into Joyce’s lack of brain cells, I’m a bit worried about this. It’s really not a comfortable watch .
Really not a fan of this fight.
And while we’re at it, was Okolie told the best way to go to Heavyweight is just turn into a fat bastard?

[Spicoli]

Joyce v Whyte basically a race to the end match up really. Just feels like we're seeing a lot of recycling going on with guys who frankly should look for other routes career wise. Joyce has a fight 30 days prior too so rule nothing out. Weight will be an indicator. I have a feeling the much talked about chin of Joe cracked with Zhang and can't see it returning. You just hate to see guys who are clearly a few steps over the crest start tumbling down the hill and sponging up damage, they are both there. Winner gets Okolie off the undercard?

[Master]

I was a fan of Joyce and thought he was the next serious heavyweight overlooking the fact that he got hit far too much, slow as tortoise and has very little skill. Losing to Zhang and Chisora were bad performances.

Whyte has wasted away his career trying to handle his PED cases.

Okolie should not put weight on his belly. He needs to bulk up properly like Evander and Usyk did.

[Master]

Dillian Whyte has been forced to pull out of next month's fight against Joe Joyce.

According to The Sun, the 36-year-old has suffered a finger injury to leave Joyce scrambling for a late replacement for the April 5 fight.

[ykdadamaja]

Dillian Whyte has been forced to pull out of next month's fight against Joe Joyce.

According to The Sun, the 36-year-old has suffered a finger injury to leave Joyce scrambling for a late replacement for the April 5 fight.

Put him in there with Arslanbek Makmudov... should be a good way back for both of them.

[Spicoli]

Looks like Filip Hrgovic will come in now. He's been out since getting bashed up by Dubois so no idea where he is physically but has about 60 days to get it together. I can only imagine this one will look like it's in slow motion even more so . But someone is going night-night.

[Master]

Less than two years ago, Joe Joyce was the most avoided heavyweight in the division.

On Saturday, at the Co-op Live arena on the outskirts of Manchester, Joyce is fighting for his boxing life when he meets Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic. It has been a dramatic shift in fortunes.

In 2023, Joyce was unbeaten in 15 fights, and he had dropped and stopped Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker in long and attritional brawls. He was the danger, he was the future.

Then, Joyce was matched in April 2023 with Zhilei Zhang, who in his previous fight had lost a tight 12-round title eliminator to Hrgovic. Joyce started as a heavy favourite that night at the forsaken CopperBox, the venue that boxing is trying to leave behind.

Hrgovic, having beaten Zhang in an eliminator for a version of the world title, was being frozen out of a heavyweight division where the two champions and their people had seen sense and arranged a couple of undisputed fights. No other sport resembles a soap opera quite like the heavyweight division.

During the last year, as Usyk and Fury made millions and fought twice, Joyce lost to Derek Chisora and Hrgovic was stopped on cuts by Daniel Dubois; the ringside doctor saved Hrgovic from getting badly beaten in a fight that was slipping painfully away. The Chisora renaissance – he is now mandated to challenge Dubois for the IBF heavyweight title – would genuinely be hard to invent.

Somehow, in the typical way that heavyweight boxing works, Hrgovic and Joyce meet in a fight for survival; it is one of the best last-chance-saloon shootouts of recent years. Both lost their last fight, and both know that they must win this fight to stay relevant in the heavyweight business. It really is that simple.

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/joe-joyce-...083539141.html

[Denilson3.0]

I'm kind of dreading this fight because I like Joyce and I think this could do some bad damage to him. Blocking shots with your face was only going to work for so long. It’s like whacking a wall with a sledgehammer, sooner or later it will collapse and will never be the same again.

Joyce needs to retire. Frank Warren doesn't really care about his long term health. He's going to get hit a lot in the early going and suffer more brain abuse. Hrgovic has the best chin HW boxing (IMO) so Joe aint gonna move him. It will very likely be the end of the road for Big Joe. So it could prove to be a really dumb decision on his part too.

[Master]

I was a huge fan of Joe Joyce and thought he was going to be a world champion. It was his work rate and engine that was impressive. He also was progressing very fast in his professional career and with his win's over Dubois and Parker I genuinely thought he would beat AJ and Fury.

Then Zhang beat him down twice and the second fight was in dramatic fashion. Losing to Chisora was embarrassing because he should have easily won that but having his chin up in the air and his punch resistance fading he lost a big fight.

Joyce had a chance against Whyte, the original opponent, but the way Hrgovic jumped in as the replacement means he believes he is going to out box Joyce and be back in the picture.

I hope Joyce can turn back the clock but have the feeling he will be easily out boxed.

[Master]

David Adeleye vs Jeamie Tshikeva on the undercard looks very interesting. There will be a knockout.

[TIC]

i think this should be an easy win for filip. i'm just not sure if he stops joe or not

[Spicoli]

Standing and hung up in a corner wouldn't surprise. Saw a recent interview with Joe and honestly it spoke volumes. Not by what he said but his delivery. It can get lost that just a short 3,4 years ago the talk after Dubois was "Joe needs to really hurry he's not getting any younger". Well, he is now well beyond hurrying for anything and he turns 40 this year. Honestly, I just want Joyce, Wilder and Chisora to all meet up and share a few pints over battles had. Put that on a stream...we'll watch . But leave the gloves alone.

[Master]

This will be a more difficult contest for Joe Joyce than if he faced Whyte. Joe has declined in recent years in terms of punch resistance and punch out put.

Hrgovic has taken this opportunity because he believes his boxing skills will be to much for slow Joyce.

I hope I am wrong and Joe wins.

The chief support will be fireworks.

[Hard-Ar]

Somebody gotta get cuffed for throwin' Joyce up in this bout. That dude’s done for real