The silver medalist of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, British heavyweight Joe Joyce (5-0, 5 KOs) scored a quick victory in the first round over the Croatian Ivica Bacurin (29-14-1, 18 KOs), who agreed to fight in just a few days before the date of the fight. Initially, Joyce was about to hold the first defense of his British Commonwealth title against Richard Larty (12-1, 9 KOs) from Ghana.