British heavyweight Joe Joyce ruled out the prospect of retirement after his third-round stoppage loss to Zhilei Zhang on Saturday night.

Joyce, 38, came into the fight at Wembley Arena hoping to gain revenge for April's sixth-round defeat to the Chinese WBO interim champion.

But he instead was caught by a right hook early in the contest, leaving Zhang now aiming for a world title shot next year.

Asked whether he would hang up his gloves, Putney-born Joyce told BBC Sport: "No chance.

"I'm feeling good, I'm feeling OK. It's not the end of the world. I can rebuild and come back.

"I'm going to [take] a bit of time, reflect and review where I went wrong.

"There's plenty of learning to do. Maybe it was a risk too far.

"I've taken losses in the amateurs. I prefer to win obviously but I feel OK.

"I still feel fresh and that I can do some more sparring and rounds. I'm feeling OK. I'll just have to lick my wounds and come back stronger."

Coming into 2023 unbeaten, Joyce now has two defeats on his record.

And after hitting the canvas in the rematch, the Londoner admits Zhang proved too tough an opponent.

Joyce said: "He's a southpaw which is awkward but he's a very good southpaw, an Olympic silver medallist and probably avoided for a reason.

"I could have probably gone another route or whatever but mistakes happen and I paid the price.

"Maybe [I could have taken] just an easier fight and bided my time — that would have probably been better. But no risk, no rewards."

Joyce's promoter Frank Warren added: "He got caught with an extremely good punch.

"Zhang is the mandatory challenger for the WBO title, and mid next year the WBO will order a mandatory against whoever is the WBO champion."

Current WBA, IBF and WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk is expected to resume talks for a unification fight with Tyson Fury following the Brit's dust-up with ex-UFC heavyweight Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia on October 28.