Filip Hrgovic walked away with the win on April 5, when he faced Joe Joyce at Co-op Live in Manchester, England. The contest featured the old amateur rivals going head-to-head in a 10-round main event bout at heavyweight.
Hrgovic from Croatia defeated Britain’s Joyce by unanimous decision with the scores 97-93, 96-95, and 98-92. With the victory, he avenged a split-decision defeat suffered in their five-round amateur bout at the now defunct World Series of Boxing in 2013.
Additionally, Filip Hrgovic improved to 18-1, 14 KOs, and lifted the vacant WBO International title. The 32-year-old Croatian contender, who took the fight on short notice, replacing Dillian Whyte, rebounded from an eighth-round TKO loss to Daniel Dubois last June.
Joyce dropped to 16-4, 15 KOs. London’s 39-year-old former interim WBO champion lost his second fight in a row after dropping a unanimous decision to Derek Chisora last July.
In the co-feature, David Adeleye (14-1, 13 KOs) stopped fellow Londoner Jeamie Tshikeva (8-2, 5 KOs) at 55 seconds into the sixth round. With the victory, Adeleye claimed the vacant British heavyweight title.
Among other Joyce vs Hrgovic results, Manchester’s Jack Rafferty (26-0, 17 KOs) retained his Commonwealth super lightweight strap by TKO against Cory O’Regan (14-1, 3 KOs) of Dewsbury, Yorkshire. The official time was 2:26 into the fifth round.
Plus, Briton Delicious Orie (1-0) made a successful pro boxing debut against Milos Veletic (3-8, 1 KO) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, winning via a 40-36 points decision at heavyweight.