Joe Joyce is in boxing’s last-chance saloon he ‘must beat’ Filip Hrgovic

This is a night of huge jeopardy for Joe Joyce but the reward is also huge. That’s heavyweight boxing but this is last-chance saloon for the British star.

He takes on Filip Hrgovic in a really exciting clash that was put together after Dillian Whyte was forced out through injury. This is a fight between two elite amateurs who went on and became pros who made it to the top level.

Now they’re both looking to get back there. There’s so much on the line.

There are many people questioning if Joe should retire. I understand why. He’s had two defeats by Zhilei Zhang and a shock loss against Derek Chisora.

Now Chisora is a good name to mention because I felt for two years or more that Derek should retire and he’s come out and proven me wrong.

First by beating Joe and then beating Otto Wallin last time out. So Joe, even at 39, has got the chance to turn this all around.

This card and fight is happening because I owe Joe. He’s been a loyal servant to Queensberry and he deserves one final crack.

Why? Because he was on the brink of landing a world title shot and it just didn’t happen. Yet he didn’t sit around and wait, he took on Zhang when others wouldn’t have.

Now we know this is it for him. He has to win tonight. He must do.
It’s an Olympic silver medallist against a boxer who won bronze at the same Games in Croatian Hrgovic.

He’s coming off a loss to Daniel Dubois and we saw in that fight what he’s all about. After three rounds, he struggled against Daniel. But Joe has beaten Daniel and his resurrection should be inspiration. Now Daniel is IBF champion. Joe can still reach the top.

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But he must win tonight. Defeat means it is all over. It’s high stakes at Manchester’s Co-Op Live for our first show with DAZN. One will go on, one will not. They’re fighting for a seat at the heavyweight top table.

The undercard is exciting, too. After the table flipping antics of Jeamie TKV ahead of his British heavyweight title showdown with David Adeleye, there will be a lot of eyes on that fight.