‘He’s had a lot of tough fights’: Hrgovic urges Joyce to retire following latest loss

Filip Hrgovic thinks it’s time for Joe Joyce to retire from boxing.

Filip Hrgovic would take a unanimous decision win over Joe Joyce over the weekend, resulting in Joyce’s fourth loss in his last five fights, and while Hrgovic believes Joyce is tough enough to give anyone a hard fight, he tells Sky Sports he thinks it’s time for Joyce to walk away from the sport for his own good.

‘He’s had a lot of tough fights. He received a lot of punches. He has that open style, not so great defense, and like I said he can give anyone a tough fight. But my opinion is that he should retire because of his health. That’s most important in the end; to be healthy after boxing.”

Hrgovic would go on to credit Joyce for his toughness and his accomplishments but adds that time has passed Joyce by and says he means no disrespect in urging him to retire. Queensberry promoter Frank Warren also said that Joyce needs to seriously consider his future following the fight.

At age 39 and given what we’ve seen of Joyce as of late, he’s pretty clearly topped out and isn’t going to improve going forward, so there doesn’t seem to be much incentive for him carrying on. Joyce, of course, will have to come to that determination on his own though, so we’ll see what he decides in due time.