IBF champ Hrgovic urges Joshua to retire, says Briton doesn’t have it anymore
The current IBF heavyweight champion Filip Hrgovic has urged Anthony Joshua to retire from the sport of boxing because the British pugilist seems not to have it him anymore to withstand high-profile fights.
Hrgovic who was weighing in on Joshua’s forthcoming heavyweight mega fight against Tyson Fury set for December 11, said that he (Joshua) will lose the fight based on his last boxing performance.
According to Hrgovic, he felt sorry for Joshua when he went down in 10 seconds from such a soft punch during his last fight against Kristian Prenga on July 25 at the Jeddah Superdome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“I think Fury [wins], based on Joshua’s last performance,” Hrgovic told Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show”.
“You saw that [Joshua] was fighting a journeyman and he went down in 10 seconds from such a soft punch. It was crazy. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I think he’s done.
Read Also: UEFA ROUNDUP: Ndidi, Arokodare hit target; Tella subbed, Chukwueze not listed
“He shouldn’t be fighting anymore. But he wants to do, of course, one more fight. I think he’s going to make a huge amount of money, and he’s doing it because of that, but I think he shouldn’t be fighting anymore.
“When I saw that last fight, I felt sorry for him,” Hrgovic added, “because [for] the fight, he said he shut all his businesses to focus on boxing. He changed his coach for the 20th time.
“He started to work with [Oleksandr] Usyk’s team. He did everything he could do. And then he comes to the fight with a journeyman and he goes down in 10 seconds.” The IBF champion said.
Joshua is now in camp preparing for the heavyweight showdown with Fury at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales with the vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) super heavyweight title on the line.
Fury heads into the fight on the back of an April 2026 unanimous decision win over Arslanbek Makhmudov, while Joshua rebounded from an early setback with a knockout win over Prenga three months ago.
