IBF heavyweight champion Filip Hrgovic has urged Anthony Joshua to retire from boxing, expressing sympathy for the British-Nigerian and insisting he should not fight again.
Joshua is preparing for a highly anticipated showdown with fellow Briton Tyson Fury in Cardiff on Friday, December 11.
However, Hrgovic believes the former two-time heavyweight world champion has reached the end of his career and is motivated by the financial rewards of the fight.
Speaking on the Ariel Helwani Show, the Croatian said: He is done; he shouldn’t be fighting anymore, but he wants to do one more fight.
“I think that he is going to make a huge amount of money and he is doing it because of that, but I think that he shouldn’t be fighting anymore.”
Joshua was stopped by Daniel Dubois when he challenged for the IBF heavyweight title in 2024.
He returned to the ring last December with a knockout victory over YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, his first fight since joining Team Usyk and appointing Iegor Golub as his lead cornerman.
However, Joshua’s next outing in July proved more difficult, as he was knocked down twice by the previously little-known Kristian Prenga before stopping the Albanian in the second round.
Joshua has since reunited with former trainer Ben Davison, who previously worked in Fury’s corner.
Hrgovic said Joshua’s performance against Prenga left him stunned and questioned whether the former world champion remained capable of competing at the highest level.
“When I saw that last fight, I felt sorry for him because before the fight he said that he shut all of his businesses to focus on boxing. He changed his coach for the 20th time.
“He started to work with team Usyk; he did everything that he could do, and then he comes to the fight with a journeyman, and he goes down in 10 seconds!
“I couldn’t believe it. I felt sorry for him, and I think he shouldn’t be fighting anymore. Based on how he looked in his last fight, it was a disaster. He is just not there, man.”
The Croatian also warned Joshua against continuing to compete if he had reached a stage where he could no longer perform safely in the ring.
Also Read
“It is not basketball, it is not soccer. In boxing you come to a point where you can’t fight anymore.
“It is a dangerous sport, it is a war, and I think that when you come to a point where you can’t fight, you can’t mess around with boxing,” he said.
Hrgovic is expected to make the first defence of his title against Frank Sanchez in Croatia in early 2027.
[wpadcenter_ad id='745970' align='none']