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Joe Joyce vs Filip Hrgovic: Who has the edge heading into their fight?
Joe Joyce (16-3, 15 KOs) and Filip Hrgovic (17-1, 14 KOs) will each look to rebound from a loss when they clash Saturday night at Co-op Live in Manchester, United Kingdom, and live and exclusive on DAZN.
Joyce was massively upset by Derek Chisora via unanimous decision in July, while Hrgovic was stopped for his first professional loss by Daniel Dubois in June.
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Will Joyce, loser in three of his last four fights, resurrect his career with a much-needed win? Or will Hrgovic point his way back into the win column?
With the stakes high on Queensberry's first night on DAZN as part of a new broadcast partner, DAZN News analyzes who has the edge entering this heavyweight clash.
Boxing skills
Filip Hrgovic has speed to his right hand whether it is coming around the guard or splitting it altogether.
That velocity will likely be tested by the heavy-handed, more deliberate style of Joyce’s.
If Hrgovic can fire his shots and use enough movement to escape harm’s way in the form of the bigger Joyce walking him down, the edge should go to the Croatian heavyweight for piecing his punches together with zip.
Edge: Hrgovic
Power
Fifteen of Joyce’s 16 wins have come by the way of knockout — a method of victory the British fighter sorely wants to return to.
Hrgovic has pop and power to his fight game as well. 14 of his 17 victories have been produced by knockout.
However, he had trouble when Dubois swarmed and trapped him in the corners and against the ropes.
That is something that Joyce is capable of doing, too. Plus, if Joyce is willing to eat a few shots to step into close quarters, he could unload damaging power shots on Hrgovic.
Edge: Joyce
Mental Warfare
Both Joyce and Hrgovic are coming off stinging losses.
Hrgovic suffered his first professional loss via an eighth-round TKO defeat at the hands of Daniel Dubois in June when the bout was brought to a halt due to a doctor’s stoppage.
Joyce is coming off a hard-fought unanimous decision loss to Derek Chisora in July after the latter dropped Joyce with a massive right hand.
What is more troubling is that Joyce, 39, has lost three of his last four fights. That includes his back-to-back knockout defeats against Zhilei Zhang in 2023.
Hrgovic rebounding from a doctor’s stoppage is not as steep a climb as Joyce returning from a deflating, upset loss to an older Chisora and the pulverizing Zhang KOs from 2023. His 10th-round KO of Kash Ali in March 2024 helped but the Chisora loss was definitely a setback.
It is the kind of setback that Joyce must overcome mentally more than physically.
Edge: Hrgovic
Who has the edge in Joyce vs. Hrgovic?
Seven years Hrgovic’s senior and coming off three losses in his last four fights is a daunting task to overcome.
Joyce has the heavy hands to put Hrgovic’s lights out. But the longer this bout goes on, the more the fight should sway in the Croatian’s favour.
The mental aspect looming large over this fight tilts the edge in Hrgovic’s corner slightly, 2-1.
The immense pressure for the win falls on Joyce. Whether he can use that pressure to his advantage remains to be seen.
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