Hrgovic beats Joyce in slugfest to rebound from Dubois loss

Filip Hrgovic defeated Joe Joyce via unanimous decision (97-93, 96-95, 98-92) in a heavyweight main event Saturday at Co-op Live in Manchester, England.

Hrgovic is back in the win column after suffering his first career defeat to IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois last June.

Hrgovic agreed to fight Joyce three weeks ago, replacing the injured Dillian Whyte. The 32-year-old Croatian is ranked No. 6 at heavyweight by the IBF.

"Thanks to Joe for the opportunity," Hrgovic said in his postfight interview. "He took a strong fight on short notice. ... I'm looking forward to being back and some big fights in the future."

Hrgovic landed the more effective offense throughout the fight, topping Joyce 253-140 in total punches and 206-73 in power punches. But there were no knockdowns over the 10 rounds.

Joyce opened a cut on Hrgovic's face early in the bout, but Hrgovic didn't let that affect him.

"This guy is like steel," Hrgovic said of Joyce. "I couldn't believe he took all those shots. He's a really, really tough guy. He's a beast. He's very strong."

Hrgovic said he's interested in a rematch with Dubois following the bounce-back victory. Dubois defeated Hrgovic via eighth-round TKO in an IBF interim title bout eight months ago. Dubois is coming off a knockout win over former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and is targeting an undisputed title rematch against Oleksandr Usyk next.

"(Joyce) beat Dubois (in 2020), and I beat him. I want a rematch with Daniel Dubois," Hrgovic said. "I did very bad in my last fight. Congratulations to him. He did an amazing job last year. Of course, I would like to have a rematch one day."

Hrgovic lifted his professional record to 18-1 with 14 knockouts.

Joyce, a 39-year-old London native, is riding a two-fight losing streak and is 1-4 in his past five outings. Joyce's career record fell to 16-4.