Joe Joyce beaten by Filip Hrgovic in Manchester to leave his boxing future in doubt

Joe Joyce is facing serious questions about his boxing future following defeat by Filip Hrgovic at Manchester's Co-op Live Arena. Croatian Hrgovic, 32, won by unanimous decision after an absorbing 10-round heavyweight bout against the 39-year-old Joyce. Britain's Joyce, who looked sharp at times but allowed Hrgovic to take charge, has now lost four of his last five fights. Asked if he felt there was still more he could offer boxing, Joyce told DAZN: "Yeah. Are you not entertained? "It was a good fight, it was tough and he's a great fighter." However, his promoter Frank Warren said Joyce needs to have a "real serious think" about his future.

After being rocked early on, Joyce responded well and Hrgovic was cut after a clash of heads, but the Croatian, who won bronze at Rio 2016, landed the cleaner shots throughout the fight. The judges scored it 98-92, 96-95 and 97-93 in favour of Hrgovic, who has now won 18 and lost one of his 19 bouts - that defeat coming last June against Daniel Dubois, who Joyce beat in 2020. Joyce, a silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, won his first 15 professional fights but was stopped twice by Zhilei Zhang in 2023 before losing to Derek Chisora last July. He was meant to face Dillian Whyte in Manchester before his fellow Briton withdrew because of an injured hand. "We'll all have a chat and see where we go from there," added Warren. "It was a very close fight. Joe has been a great servant for British boxing and he's never in a boring fight."

On the undercard, British heavyweight Delicious Orie started his professional career with victory over Milos Veletic. Orie, 27, won 40-36 on points in the four-round bout, showing glimpses of his promise at times but proving unable to land a telling blow on his opponent from Bosnia and Herzegovina to secure a knockout. Orie won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and represented Great Britain in last year's Olympics in Paris. Elsewhere, David Adeleye claimed the British heavyweight title with a controversial stoppage of Jeamie Tshikeva. Adeleye dropped Tshikeva - known as TKV - twice in the sixth round, with the second resulting in referee Ron Kearney calling off the fight. But replays appeared to show Adeleye dropped TKV for the first time moments after Kearney called on the fighters to break after a clinch. "The referee said 'break' and he got me," said Tshikeva. "It is what it is. I was boxing well, it was going well."

Adeleye pointed out something similar happened to him in a defeat by Fabio Wardley in 2023, adding: "You know what they say, swings and roundabouts."

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