Not overly impressed with Hrgovic's comeback

There were at least 4 whole rounds where he barely threw anything at all, let alone landed anything flush. It was a dog crap performance and I gave Joyce those rounds off sheer aggression and activity alone. All Joyce would need is 2 convincing rounds to make it a draw at worst.

Not sure what fight you guys watched, but it wasn't a very convincing win at all. He spent like 1/3 of the fight in the corner and just wasn't throwing a lot. Hrgovic also got a lot of credit for "power" punches that were either pawing maneuvers with hardly anything on them or arm punches with little snap.

I say this as a guy who hates Joyce and was laughing at him in his last performance. Such a wide UD for dog crap quality performance like this was criminal.

 

He has. He used to have a decent power jab he's abandoned and had better defense. He was decent at walking guys down and cutting off the ring without simply plodding forward blocking with his face.

 

I'm not talking about how Hrgovic looked that's another matter altogether.

1) he won and the vast majority of boxing fans agree with the decision
2) that approach you described regardless of how effective it would or wouldn't be in other fights WORKED on the night.

 

I'm giving Hrgy a pass, he took the fight on short-ish notice coming off his first career loss and I thought he won in a fun scrap. I'm also not going to argue that he does seem uninterested and still has his normal flaws. I agree with @Serge that a good, different trainer is what he needed/needs.....that and to move his head more.

 

He could have made more of a statement. But given how he did against Dubois he didn't need to make one. Just needed a routine win.

 

It worked because the judges had a bizarre criteria for scoring. That happens sometimes. I simply do not give a guy a round for laying on the ropes and trying to pull an Ali/Holmes if he isn't even landing much and his defense is leaky. That defeats the whole point of fighting off the ropes if you're still getting nailed, the other guy is busier, you're getting cut, and you're missing some of your own punches.

 

It's worked on the night bro. It's irrefutable. The judges favored clean punching over mindlessly wading forward and doing next to nothing.

 

He clearly limited. He really only has the right hand, the left hand he simply uses to paw out to measure distance for the right hand, his jab is non existent and his left hook an after thought and that makes Hrgovic predictable.

But he showed heart in there to hang in there and was smart enough this time to allow himself to be out worked and then steal rounds with bursts of activity.

He's put himself back in the picture again at least on the fringe. But he needs another win over a name opponent to put himself in a position to be taken seriously again as while the win over Joyce was a good result, if we are honest Joyce is nearly 40 and doesn't seem the same fighter that beat Dubois and Parker. He only threw 522 punches over 10 rounds which is low for Joyce and his high work rate was always his biggest weapon. He did a bit better throwing 574 punches over 10 rounds with Chisora. But Joyce threw 844 punches over 11 rounds with Parker. Joyce doesn't seem to have the same desire since the Zhang losses, his weight has crept up and his punch output has dropped.

 

Let's be realistic, this is the best Hrgovic can offer, he is that level of fighter, we have seen how much Hrgovic lacks that One-Punch power which is very important in these kinds of fights, I know he won't be a champion but I want him to keep fighting, there are plenty of fighters of his level and it is important that he fights regularly...

 

I wouldn't give up hope. The next batch of HW hopefuls isn't exactly promising. Decent chance he picks up a belt in post Usyk HW landscape which will likely be a very chaotic environment.

 

On what basis did Hrgovic ever have good power? Who has he troubled with his power that you wouldn't have expected him to trouble? I don't think he's ever really had great power and now he's fighting at a higher level that's only now becoming apparent.

 

I said it on the round by round stuff - I can normally understand in a fight how someone people are scoring it for fighter A and others Fighter B, in a close fight. But this was the exception. I could make an argument Hrgovic won every round - although there were a couple that I would give to Joyce. Don’t like using Compubox but he significant outlanded Joyce in every round. It went to Frampton and he said he had it 2-2 after 4 and they all agreed - I neary jumped out of my seat! What the hell were they all watching?!

Hrgovic wasn’t great, no idea why he sat in the corner for so long at times, rather than jab and move. But he rallied well int he last two rounds to make sure. Joyce was ok - better than I thought he was against Chisora, I actually think this was a terrible opponent for him. Hrgovic was in average shape but he can do rounds, has a good chin and is technically correct with quick hands. Recipe for disaster for Joyce - he was better waiting for Whyte, who I think he would have beaten with that performance.

Hrgovic is missing something - probably in the gym and certainly in the ring. He seems to switch off in fights and is lazy, which gives a terrible impression. Similar to the Zhang fight (which I thought he won and is now almost a generally agreed nonsense that he lost).

 

Was a decent fight. Hrgovic won but I thought Joyce put up a decent fight, however at the same time Hrgovic badly needs to work on his stamina he basically gave up on his footwork and decided to take in the barrage. Also, it seems like Hrgovic lacks power at times, Joyce's face wasn't marked up much.

This was a 10 rounder, I think Hrgovic would have struggled more if it was a 12 rounder.

Could see Hrgovic V Chisora next but Chisora will probably want a slightly bigger name than Hrgovic.

 

I was also wondering during the fight why he spent so much time on the ropes. He may simply have been gassing out and didn't have the energy left to do more or maybe it was a strategy to conserve energy and then rally in bursts to steal rounds. Whatever it was it worked, Hrgovic has a good chin and was able to hang in there and take it too the cards where others may have wilted and been stopped.

 

Hrgovic had all the raw ingredients to be an elite HW when he turned over, and he has absolutely wasted his chance.

He clearly isn’t doing a proper training, isn’t getting himself in good shape, and when he fights that laziness is apparent.

At age 32 he is what he is, a fringe level world class HW.