Joe Joyce heavily beaten by Filip Hrgovic as career looks over for British heavyweight

Surely this is it for Joe Joyce. This has to be the end now. There is no shame in losing to Filip Hrgovic. Only has beaten him .Father time has called more than once for Joyce. This time he may have to answer the call.

The British heavyweight would have to walk away with a feeling of “What if?”. What if he had got the right decision in Rio and won Olympic gold in 2016. What if he had got his title shot when he was on a red-hot run between 2020 and 2022.

Those are questions that may have to remain unanswered. Joyce can be proud to be an Olympic silver medallist and a professional with wins over world champions Dubois and Joseph Parker. That’s a pretty impressive career, even if he won’t get that world title he always craved. Sometimes the good guys don’t always win.

Joyce, 39, is a good guy. Perhaps too nice. In the ring, he was mean. But this was another fight to prove his best days are long gone. That vicious puncher from a couple of years ago has aged dramatically.

He had his moments against Hrgovic and it was an entertaining brawl, but he took too much and didn’t have enough to give back against the 32-year-old Croatian. The scorecards of 97-93 and 98-92 were about right, the 96-95 too close but all were correctly in favour of Hrgovic, who reignited his career here at Manchester's Live.

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A couple of years ago this would have been a fight between two boxers on the brink of world titles. Joyce beat Hrgovic in the World Series of in 2013, they both won medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Joyce claimed afterwards it was 1-1 and wants to go again. That might not be the best option for him.

It felt inevitable they would meet as pros but few would have imagined it like this with their careers on the line and thoughts of being at the heavyweight top table a distant dream. Joyce lost back-to-back fights against Zhilei Zhang but his career was really left on the rocks by a shock defeat against veteran Derek Chisora last year.

Hrgovic took the bout at late notice when withdraw claiming he was injured. The Croatian had not fought since he was stopped by Dubois last year in Saudi Arabia.

Their other connection was Abel Sanchez in Hrgovic’s corner having worked with Joyce earlier in his career. It was Joyce, at 39, who looked like a very old man in there from the first bell. Hrgovic couldn’t miss with jabs and a few right hands hurt the Brit as well.

It was a one-sided opening round but blood was flowing from over Hrgovic’s left eye by the end of the first three minutes. Joyce kept trying to lean low down away from the over the top right hand from Hrgovic in what was a more evenly-contested second round.

It was entertaining but not because of the quality. Both exchanged thunderous right hands in the third. But they landed because both men could not defend themselves.

Dubois, who lost to Joyce back in 2020, was among the heavyweight names sat ringside. He must have been wondering what he would do to this version of the Juggernaut.

Joyce was again using his face as his defence in the fourth. It was ugly but the crowd were loving the big blows landing from both. A left hook from Hrgovic landed at the start of the fifth but Joyce just kept coming forward. Sadly for him, his only defence remained his own chin which was standing up to some big shots.

These were Olympians nine years ago but this was nothing but a slugfest. Both were sloppy in their attacks. Better fighters would be more punishing. Hrgovic was happy in the corner and picked off Joyce as he came forward in the sixth.

El Animal’s team had done a good job on the cut as blood had stopped flowing from it and he was in total control. He couldn’t miss with left hooks and right hands in the seventh. You couldn’t accuse Joyce of not trying, not wanting it but sometimes it is just not there. This was a better performance than against Chisora last year but it was another fight which may not be kind to the Putney puncher in his later years.

By the end of the eighth, a round he had done well in up until the final few seconds, he was getting pummelled by lefts and rights. The ninth followed a similar theme before Joyce had one last go in the tenth but it ended with the Brit on the back foot.