The end moved a few punches closer for Joe Joyce on Saturday night in Manchester when he lost for the fourth time in five fights.
At the end of ten brutal and gruelling rounds, Joyce lost on all three scorecards against Filip Hrgovic. It was a battle for survival from the opening bell for both men, a fight of old-fashioned hunger.
Joyce and Hrgovic were both coming off defeats, both had been genuine contenders during the last two years and both knew the savage reality of Saturday night’s scrap: the winner had a claim, the loser was in trouble.
It was, as expected, attritional from the opening bell and it never changed, the pace never dropped and the ferocity of the exchanges never altered; Joyce has always taken risks to get to his opponents and those risks can be alarming to witness from ringside. Put simply, at this point in his career, he takes too many punches to land too few.
“He is the toughest man I have ever met,” said Hrgovic. “Joe’s head is made of rock.”
Joyce is now 39, the fight was his 20th, his fourth loss in total, but stunning wins against Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker now look like ancient and forgotten history. The glory nights when he was the leading contender for the heavyweight world title now seem so distant, so unreal in many ways.
Hrgovic seldom missed with his right hand, varied his left hand and was able, whenever trapped on the ropes, to slip and slide to avoid Joyce’s booming right hands and thudding left hooks to the head. Joyce was painfully predictable and Hrgovic, at 32, was too young and smart to get trapped and hurt. One score was wide, one score was close and one was about right; Joyce was in every round, throwing, pushing forward and backing Hrgovic up, but the Croatian was too quick and accurate. In the cheap seats at the magnificent Co-op Live Arena, there might have been an impression that Joyce’s big shots were shaping the fight – it was an illusion; Hrgovic controlled the fight with skill. There was no dispute about the verdict; the dispute is about Joyce’s future in the ring.
Hrgovic thinks he should quit, Frank Warren, the promoter of the fight, believes that Joyce and his people need to have a long, hard conversation about the boxer’s future. In the current heavyweight climate, a loss is not the end, but a combination of Joyce’s age and his recent run of form have placed the boxer under scrutiny. He gets hit as often now as he did at the start of his career – the difference now is that he loses fights.
There is no simple solution to when a fighter should walk away from the sport, and if Joyce continues to pass all his required medicals, there is no reason for him to stop. There is also a debate to be had about who can and who can’t tell a fighter to quit. The boxer seldom reaches a decision at the right moment; Warren is right, everyone in the Joyce business needs to sit down and talk, a boxing intervention, if you like. It will not be a pleasant conversation.
“Why is everyone talking about me walking away?” Joyce asked late on Saturday night, his voice sharp, his eyes bright. “Look at (Derek) Chisora – people have been saying he should retire for ten years.” Joyce is right and Chisora, who outpointed Joyce last summer, is currently high on a shortlist to fight Daniel Dubois for the heavyweight world title this summer. During the last decade I have watched several Chisora fights through my fingers and at the same time, it is hard to deny his latest renaissance.
In heavyweight boxing the end is never clear and never easy. Joe Joyce has some decisions to make and they will certainly not be easy. And Hrgovic is right back in the mix after winning a fight of extremes – it was both a cruel and sweet night on Saturday for two heavyweights scrapping to stay relevant.
