Joe Joyce v Filip Hrgovic

[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.