On Saturday night at the Copper Box in London, Joe Joyce lost his undefeated record to fellow Olympic silver medal winner Zhilei Zhang.

Joyce was stunned several times by Zhang, who started fast in the bout by letting his hands go.

By the sixth round, Joyce's right eye was practically swollen shut from the big left hands of Zhang. The ringside doctor, who examined Joyce's eye on two occasions, advised the referee to stop the fight.

Zhang walked away with a sixth round TKO win, and the WBO's interim-heavyweight title.

There is an immediate rematch clause. Much of that decision will be determined by Joyce's recovery with his eye injury.

Joyce, 37-years-old, reveals that he may take an interim-fight before a rematch with Zhang.

"We're going to discuss it," Joyce said to BBC Sport. "I could have one in between. I'm just going to decide. I'm going to have some time off and reflect and watch the tape back and see where I went wrong."

Despite the gruesome swelling, Joyce explained that his vision was not impaired in the eye.

"I've had my loss but I'll be back," Joyce stated. "The journey will continue.

"I can still see through [the eye], I think it's just bruised. It's a formality to go to the hospital now to check it's not fractured or anything. It looks like I've got a terminator eye now. It's unfortunate but I'll be back. I thought I was doing well in there.

"I couldn't get away from his straight left. He kept on nailing me in the eye and it swelled up my eye. 

That's what happens when you take risks. Sometimes it doesn't go your way which is it's annoying. I thought I'd reach a victory here and it's just disappointing I didn't."