Joe Joyce v Michael Wallisch

Meet Sam Jones, the old school boxing manager proving critics wrong with heavyweight Joe Joyce

On Saturday night Joyce fights German Michael Wallisch and he will hopefully get a few rounds. Jones might not be there, a victim of the tight numbers, the necessary restrictions that need to be in place before the Board sanctions a show. “I understand, I will be mature,” added Jones, who is still only 31 – he is three years younger than Joyce.

Jones fell in love with boxing dressing up as Naseem Hamed and vaulting over the sofa wearing a pair of leopard-print shorts his mother put together from an old carpet or rug or towel. It’s a fine story and it’s true. “I think my mum still has a pair of those Naz shorts. Glued together. I loved that. That was the start for me.” And now he manages fighters, good fighters.

“I get them the most amount of money, I protect them,” Jones added. “They are the boss. That is how it works. I do a job and I do a good job. I work for the fighter. That is my job.” It might sound simple, but it is hard to do well and prevent your fighter or fighters from walking away when the whispering starts in boxing’s universe of fools. So far, Jones is doing fine and so is Big Joe. A win in three or less rounds on Saturday will help.

Sam Jones is a fedora shy of looking like a boxing manager from the 50s, pushing his fighter, selling his fighter, getting his fighter crumbs of exposure and swinging at the great windmills that run the boxing business. He is hard to dislike.

In early March, Jones and Joe Joyce, the heavyweight he manages, were getting ready to finish their training camp in Las Vegas, getting ready to fly back to London and fight in front of 11,000 people at the O2 against Daniel Dubois. That fight was scheduled for 11 April and became the first big casualty of the lockdown.

Jones started talking, looking for dates, trying to get information – he stayed busy, he had to.

This Saturday inside the BT boxing bubble, a studio of scrubbed floors, glistening ropes and yellow wheelie bins, Joyce fights, but not against Dubois. It is Joyce’s first fight since last July and he badly needed the rounds before the eventual, and now re-scheduled, fight with Dubois, which will – hopefully – be in front of a live crowd at the O2 on 24 October. It is an exceptional fight.

“The camp in Las Vegas was perfect,” said Jones.

“It had cost us about 50 grand, but I came back when this got serious and had meetings. It was quickly obvious that it was off, but we all expected it to be back quicker.”

Jones is right, in those lost, dark and cold days of March there was an aggressive delusion that all the May fights would survive, that June and July were safe. That denial tumbled badly and we soon lost Anthony Joshua outdoors, some big British fights and the third Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury was booked for Las Vegas last Saturday.

“Back then there was so much confusion,” added Jones. “I left Joe in his own world. He was just thinking about fighting – it was my job to find out what was happening and that was not easy.” A new date was suggested in July, that vanished and then, as the months slipped by, there was a sensible and urgent need to get Joyce out, get Joyce some rounds.

Dubois last fought in December and he will also have a tune-up fight inside the BT boxing bubble at the end of August. Jones has done his job and it is a job that a lot of people in the boxing business are not comfortable with.

Jones, you see, does not hold a British Boxing Board of Control licence and boxing is a sport rich on tradition, heavily connected to a history of licence holders, a sport where the old-fashioned way works and works well.

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“I will probably get a licence from the Board, a matchmaker’s licence,” added Jones. “You have to hold a licence three years before you can get a manager’s licence – I feel like I have put 25 years into three years and I have seen some so-called Board licence holders destroy fighter’s careers – I do a good job and I made that happen.”

It is to be continued.

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/big...053134860.html

Someone who Tpny Yoka and Efe Ajagba already knocked out? A step back after beating Bryant Jennings, but I guess you have to stay busy.

I don't see much competition here. Just to shake off some rust. Joyce should have an early easy night.

Joe Joyce returns to the ring on Saturday night as he warms up for his October meeting with Daniel Dubois against Michael Wallisch behind closed doors at the BT Sport Studios.

Joyce and Dubois will meet in a huge all-London heavyweight showdown in the autumn in a fight twice postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The winner of that contest will force themselves into the world title equation but both have a tune-up fight to get through first before they can begin to contemplate knocking the other off course.

Joyce has not fought in just over a year – beating former world title challenger Bryant Jennings last July to extend his record to 10-0. A January meeting with Marco Huck was shelved when the German suffered an injury so there is a real need for the Putney heavyweight to get some competitive rounds in before meeting Dubois – who is himself in action at the end of August.

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34-year-old Wallisch is the man looking to throw an almighty spanner in the works. The German heavyweight was 16-0 before suffering a career first defeat to Christian Hammer in 2018.

He has lost two of his three fights since then against Nigerian prospect Efe Ajagba and 2016 Olympian Tony Yoka.

Card in full

Joe Joyce vs Michael Wallisch (heavyweight)
Denzel Bentley vs Mick Hall (middleweight)
Louie Lynn vs Monty Ogilvie (featherweight)
Chris Bourke vs Ramez Mamood (Southern Area super-bantamweight)
Henry Turner vs Chris Adaway (super lightweight)

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/joe...154653636.html

Juggernaut' Joe Joyce returns on Saturday night, after a year out of the ring, in a potential banana-skin 10-round contest against German Michael Wallisch ahead of his much-anticipated heavyweight dust-up with Daniel Dubois.

The Dubois fight was re-scheduled from mid-April to October 24 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Joyce - a silver medallist from Rio 2016, and a fine-art graduate - is the first high-profile boxer to take to the ring after the lockdown and headlines Frank Warren's event from East London, behind closed doors.

His aim is to sharpen his wits against Wallisch before the fight with Dubois, with the winner becoming a genuine top-10 heavyweight contender.

Victory would spell major nights ahead against renowned names currently sitting on the sidelines awaiting their returns later this year. Indeed, fights with the likes of Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and Dillian Whyte are conceivably a couple of wins away for the Joyce-Dubois victor.

Joyce does not have time on his side, though - which he readily admitted in an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph - as he turns 35 in September. The next two years are arguably the prime of his career.

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In three years as a professional, Joyce has moved to 10-0, with nine knockouts. Granite chin, Joyce slugs away at his rivals. Last time out, his opponent on Saturday, Wallisch, was knocked out in the third round by Tony Yoka, who controversially defeated Joyce on points in the Olympic superheavyweight final at Rio 2016.

Away from the ring, and far from struggling during lockdown, Joyce has found it simplicity itself. “A lot of my mates have got bikes and we’ve gone to Box Hill and Windsor castle. It’s gets all of us together. Every time I see my mum I bring my bike and we go cycling,” the Surrey-based fighter told The Telegraph.

“Lockdown has been alright, actually. I’ve enjoyed a lot of it. Obviously it was a shame the fight [with Dubois] got postponed and I had to make a quick getaway back to the UK, and leave sunny Vegas where I was training. But I got a chance to chill out. I’m in Surrey. I’ve got fields everywhere. Lucky I wasn’t stuck in London. I feel for people who were stuck in blocks of flats, and then the parks closed. It must have been so frustrating for them.

“But I didn’t learn that much that I didn't already know about myself, I am quite happy in my own company. I thought about doing some painting, but sadly I didn't,” added the expert in Fine Arts, who revealed that 11 years ago he “left for China to train with the Shaolin Kung Fu masters a day before the graduation ceremony.”

Right now, though, the boxing ring is the only canvas he is concentrating on. "I always knew signing with Frank Warren meant Dubois was a potential fight. It turned out the belts on the line were the Commonwealth, European and WBO silver titles, so I was like ‘all right then!’ I’m happy to have a piece of that. The clock is ticking, I’m going to be 35 soon. I’m not 22 like Dubois. I need to get in the best situation to win otherwise it’ll set me back. If I lose, I’ll have to build back up again. But by beating Dubois I can challenge anyone and it puts me right in the mix for a world title. Dubois' definitely going to try and knock my block off. I don’t know if I should say I can’t wait because I’ll have to take some big lumps off him.”

Both the fighter and his promoter will hope that spectators can return in October. "I think for the Dubois fight there needs to be a crowd. It wouldn’t have the same magic. You need their reaction for every move you make and you want that energy when you win. That’s what is so exciting about boxing. He’s never dealt with anyone like me in the ring before. Not many boxers have. I think people will realise my worth in the sport when I beat him. I’m looking forward to that.”

But for now the focus is on Wallisch - who has a record of 20 wins three defeats - before the next heavyweight chess move. Joyce will want to make a statement. "Wallisch is a good boxer and I've had a good look at him. He’s got a high guard and is a good European prospect. He has fought Yoka and another Olympic medalist. He’s no mug. It's going to be weird because it’ll be in an empty studio. It’ll be like an intense sparring session, but I have to win and look good. So yeah, it’s going to be interesting. But I need to deal with him before concentrating on Dubois.”

Joe Joyce vs Michael Wallisch is live on BT Sport on Saturday night from 7pm to 10pm

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/exc...124153396.html

Louie Lynn stopped his opponent in 2 rounds. Lucky he did not get disqualified for hitting his opponent when he was down.

Adaway v Turner on now. It is a 4 rounder and Turner should win this easy.

Bentley v Hall on now which is quite tasty 10 rounder. I think Bentley is winning this now.

Bourke beating Mamood but not enough power to stop him.

Wallisch v Joyce on now.

Joyce looks slower and cumbersome than normal in the first round.

Joyce getting hit from time to time in the 2nd but puts Wallisch down in the 2nd round with a body shot.

Joyce stops his opponent in the 3rd knocking his opponent twice in the round.

Do not know if it added anything for him to have this warm up?

According to Haye, who promoted Joe when he started his professional career, Joyce was a stone over weight. He got hit unnecessarily and showed no strategy that would give you the impression that he will beat Dubois.

I was not impressed, I thought he would beat Triple D but now having serious second thoughts.

joe kos daniel