Now Philip is hungry for championship fights
On April 5, in Manchester, UK, a fight took place between 39-year-old Briton Joe Joyce and 32-year-old Croatian Filip Hrgovic. The fight, which even the participants in the confrontation did not expect, surprised both with its dynamism and lack of events.
The boxers combined and competed quite well, given the circumstances. However, a decision victory was the last thing we expected here.
Joyce and Hrgovic return from defeats. But with opposite results
Joseph vs. Philip was never supposed to happen. At least not today. Joe Joyce was supposed to fight Dillian Whyte for the right to be Britain's number one contender for the world title.
However, everything changed when Whyte injured his finger in camp. Dillian even provided a photo of the injury, so doubts about the veracity are meaningless. However, one way or another, he had to find a replacement.
Quite quickly the choice fell on Filip Hrgovic. The Croatian had lost the previous fight, as had Joyce. And he was eager to return to the fold and a fairly, but not very well-known opponent – Joe was just right.
They also have a history of rivalry, although you can’t call it very personal. The guys met in 2013 as amateurs. Then it was Joyce who emerged victorious. However, Joseph was already gradually moving towards leadership in the Great Britain team, while Philip was just a young boxer with promise.
Both subsequently flew to the Rio Olympics. There they met Frenchman Tony Yoka and lost to him. Hrgovic in the semifinals, Joyce in the finals. So their common amateur background added to the intrigue.
However, there were plenty of questions for Filip. The main one: what will he do if he fails to knock out his opponent quickly? Hrgovic sometimes has problems with endurance, and he agreed to this fight shortly before the confrontation. Therefore, only the ring could answer whether Filip would be able to withstand the pace of an opponent who was going through a full-fledged camp. And he answered that he could. Probably, Hrgovic did not sit idle after the first defeat in his career. He trained, prepared, prepared himself to work against someone. In addition, Joyce can no longer give the same pace as several years ago. So everything worked out.
Joe started the fight well. He had the advantage in the jab, didn't let the right hand land. Hrgovic was charging with overhands like crazy, but mostly missed. And if he did, he didn't scare his opponent much.
The monotony of Joyce's tempo work in attack is not impressive, but it looked like the path to victory. Constantly press, force retreat and regularly hit the body – so that the opponent does not have time to rest.
Sometimes it worked better, and sometimes it came back in response. Still, in order to maintain the pace, Joe has to work at a lower level. And this affects the overall appearance of the fight, because Hrgovic's power looks more convincing.
No matter how hard they tried to maintain their strength, by the 7th round both were exhausted. Not critically, but quite seriously. Philip was constantly aiming his right, the opponent was trying not to miss the decisive blow and to work through the body of the opponent, who had significantly less time to prepare.
A fairly equal confrontation. Hrgovic, who was never a genius of tactical decisions, tried to box with his head. To catch his opponent on mistakes, to hit with power. Filip decided not to provoke his opponent to a fight at the start, so as not to waste all his strength and to box smarter.
Joyce could no longer attack with force. Joseph planned to knock the breath out of his opponent and finish him off if the Croatian stopped. Hrgovic got weak in the second half of the match, but not dramatically. Therefore, it was not possible to stop and finish off Philip.
The judges still made conclusions based on the boxers' power attacks. Hrgovic had more of them, and he also landed more often. That's why they gave him the victory: 96-95, 97-93 and 98-92.
For Philip, this is his first win since losing to Daniel Dubois. For Joyce, this is his fourth defeat in his last five fights.
What now?
Hrgovic wants a rematch against Dubois. That's great and maybe it will happen. But it's unlikely to happen anytime soon. Daniel is planning a rematch against Usyk. And if that doesn't work out, then a fight against Chisora to defend the IBF belt against the mandatory challenger. The federation agrees to cede the challenger issue in favor of unifying the titles, but not in favor of a rematch with Hrgovic.
Considering that Dubois will have this fight in the summer, no matter who it is, the rematch can only be planned for the end of autumn. Or even for the winter, depending on the outcome of the fight.
Joyce is unlikely to return to his previous level. There is no reason to believe that this can happen. Joe is almost 40 years old, he has lost twice to Zhilei, Hrgovic and even Chisora. He can continue boxing, fill good halls, even meet opponents with a name. However, talk about the title makes no sense. There is no time to get there, and the chances are not so great.
Joe has given up physically. He can no longer withstand absolutely all blows from his opponents. He can't keep up an endless pace in the ring against anyone. And that was his main strength. A large percentage of knockouts were due to this, and now it's disappearing.
However, Joyce is still a bright boxer who is loved in the UK. And he may want to have a couple more fights. No one except doctors can forbid him to do this.
