Lawrence Okolie out of Richard Riakporhe fight as Filip Hrgovic replaces Dillian Whyte to face Joe Joyce
Lawrence Okolie had been due to meet London rival Richard Riakporhe on April 5 but has had to withdraw with an injury; Joe Joyce's bout with Dillian Whyte had also been set for the same bill in Manchester but Whyte had to pull out; Now Filip Hrgovic will step in to box Joyce instead
Thursday 13 March 2025 18:47, UK
Lawrence Okolie has been forced to withdraw from his heavyweight clash with rival Londoner Richard Riakporhe.
Okolie was due to box Riakporhe on April 5 but has suffered an injury.
Okolie lost his WBO cruiserweight world title to Chris Billam-Smith but went on to win the WBC's bridgerweight belt.
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He has now moved up to heavyweight and will fight Riakporhe in that weight class.
Riakporhe is a former world-title challenger at cruiserweight, after boxing Billam-Smith at Selhurst Park in London. He has a simmering rivalry with Okolie, that dates back to an altercation at the Creed III film premiere in London.
But their fight is now on hold.
Joe Joyce was also originally meant to box Dillian Whyte on the same bill in Manchester as Okolie-Riakporhe but Whyte was ruled out with a damaged finger.
Filip Hrgovic will now come in to box Joyce, promoter Frank Warren confirmed to Talksport.
Olympic silver medallist Joyce is coming back from a shock loss to Derek Chisora and cannot afford a second consecutive defeat.
Hrgovic is an old rival of Joyce's. He lost to the British heavyweight when they were amateurs in a World Series of Boxing bout and they came close to meeting again in the 2016 Olympic Games only for Hrgovic to suffer a contentious decision defeat to Tony Yoka.
Croatia's Hrgovic has been operating at a high level as a professional. His lone defeat came against Daniel Dubois in their IBF Interim title fight. He holds a 2022 win over Zhilei Zhang, who handed Joyce two stoppage defeats the following year.
Exciting heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma will be added to the bill and David Adeleye's fight with Jeamie TKV will be for the British heavyweight title, previously held by Fabio Wardley.
