Joe Joyce v Zhang Zhilei 4/15

[Spicoli]

They should have a rematch after the eye has healed.

I dunno if that's best for Joyce right off. Man, Zhang is a character.

You could be right the southpaw stance and fast hands caused Joyce a lot of problems. That will always be the case and will not change.

I got this one 1000 percent wrong . Southpaw with that zip and size. At least for first half and it's all he needed. Joyce looked befuddled from jump by the left. Hope that eye isn't another orbital issue.

[palmerq]

Zhang is a massive oaf but he is massive and can hit, if he was fitter or eating uncastrated wild boars he could have really been something.. the guy looks like he's about to die in all his fights though, this makes hrgovic look not so bad now...i do think hrgo won that one by a bit

[Primo Carnera]

So let’s cut to the chase. There’s been a lot of hype surrounding Joyce and his standing in the HW division.
But tonight proved, whether we like it or not, this alleged tournament in Saudi with Usyk, Joshua , Fury and Wilder is a no brainer. No other HW on the planet comes even close.
This is gonna sound cuntish of me , but It hurts watching Joyce fight. You should not be able to get anywhere near World level, just by having a head like a rock. No movement, mechanical, slow, cumbersome.
I’m kinda glad he got exposed for his own health. We can all be hypocrites, but I don’t want to see Joyce stumbling around with Dementia because of allege headshots he takes.

[palmerq]

I didn't really get the joe Joyce Hype, he's big so he could cause problems for the big guys like fury that other fighters couldn't cause but I thought he looked bad v dubious Daniel until the eye closed up, thought he looked slow and on course to be kod by dubious.Usyk beat him in half pro fights they had.. he's done better than Yoka though.

[KickMuck]

I thought he looked bad v dubious Daniel

I disagree, I though the Dubious fight was a brilliant display of genetics and a heavy jab. Lets not forget that the doctor stopped this fight tonight and rightly so. But Big Joe is still well in the mix of the top HW division. Zhang stance and fast hands had his number tonight but i still feel he is a big threat to many of the top rakers in the division and i would like to see him fight them.

[KickMuck]

[QUOTE=palmerq;1607425]Zhang is a massive oaf but he is massive and can hit, the guy looks like he's about to die in all his fights though, /QUOTE]

Did you see how he looked tonight after the fight?

[nuggetdotcom]

Just watched the fight at a friends house, never mind the result I was quite encouraged, given my slagging of other heavyweights. An entertaining fight that I would not have been disappointed with had I bought a ticket.

Good points:

Both boxers were sportsmanlike at all times, both during and after the fight
Commentary etc. was fine (my first time with BT sport)
No quibbles with the difficult decision for the referee and doctor

Bad points:

One judge had (allegedly) Joe one round in front, really?
THe crowd booed Zhang into the ring, always one of my pet hates, we're better than that.

From a subjective boxing point of view I thought it obvious that Joe had no plan B, demonstrates that he is clearly made not born, and by his own admission in the Telegraph today could have just as easily been a rugby player. Nevetheless both fighters earned their money tonight and good luck to them both. I think Fury and Usyck would have embarrassed the pair of them, and that Wilder or Joshua would generate the same type of second division heavyweight action that tonight gave us.

Sorry to sit on the fence

[TIC]

zhang was a tough style for joe, he didn't fight well against the southpaw. good on both guys for fighting each other & zhang made the most of the oppostunity

[Beanz]

So let’s cut to the chase. There’s been a lot of hype surrounding Joyce and his standing in the HW division.
But tonight proved, whether we like it or not, this alleged tournament in Saudi with Usyk, Joshua , Fury and Wilder is a no brainer. No other HW on the planet comes even close.
This is gonna sound cuntish of me , but It hurts watching Joyce fight. You should not be able to get anywhere near World level, just by having a head like a rock. No movement, mechanical, slow, cumbersome.
I’m kinda glad he got exposed for his own health. We can all be hypocrites, but I don’t want to see Joyce stumbling around with Dementia because of allege headshots he takes.

^^^^ This


Have to agree. Never understood the hype for somebody without even the most basic of fundamentals when it comes to defending himself. Hopefully no lasting damage to his eye but the lad is going to ruin his future health if he just keeps absorbing punishment like that. Those talking about it as though it were an admirable attribute don't really help either.

[Denilson3.0]

Joyce is Frankenstein in treacle with a consistent jab on a good day and Zhang's southpaw stance took his jab away. So Joyce was slower than a slug in a broken wheelchair and had about as much head movement as a scarecrow.

The terminator intro for Joyce was prophetic (with the eye injury) a shame Joyce couldn't cut away the damaged tissue like Arnie in the terminator (lol) So from this bout we understood Joyce has a granite chin but not granite eyes.

Cod face Warren will be secretly pleased. He's always begrudgingly promoted Joyce since he broke Dubois' face.

This whole "He sucks because he lost" thing in boxing really needs to die a hard death, because all of the best fighters have had losses and I think Joyce would have taken over and dominated the second half of the fight. Joyce took the loss in his stride and didn't have a melt down like Joshua or come up with conspiracy theories like Wilder.

Joyce takes a punch to land a punch, throws a ton, doesn't clinch every 30 seconds or at all, willing to take dangerous fights against dangerous opponents and doesn't just sit on his mando position waiting for the title shot. If more fighters were like him boxing would be far more exciting.

Good stoppage though. Do you want to see an eyeball hanging down his chest ?

People are saying this was a nightmare matchup for Joyce but it really wasn't. If anything Joyce is a nightmare matchup for Zhang. The eye just prevented seeing him drown Zhang in the 2nd half of the fight. The fact Joyce moves as little as possible is a strength for long fight and that’s why he never gets tired. The problem is because he is so slow and lacks head movements but has good chin means the punches he takes to survive till the later rounds are rattling his brain. I guarantee he will have either MND CTE or parkinsons/dementia in his later life.

But Big Joe's size, toughness pressure, and power are still a nightmare to deal with for the vast majority of HWs and just because Big Bang was able to overcome him tonight doesn't mean many others will. Joe is a pressure fighting plodder with good power and a great chin. He will always be in a fight because of those characteristics.

No one is going to have an easy night against Joe unless you can KO him or box and move for the full 12 rounds and not get caught or overwhelmed by his pressure

[X]

You should not be able to get anywhere near World level, just by having a head like a rock.

It’s been done before though; Chuck Wepner, Joe Bugner, Jake la Motta, George Chiuvalo and others?

[Primo Carnera]

You should not be able to get anywhere near World level, just by having a head like a rock.

It’s been done before though; Chuck Wepner, Joe Bugner, Jake la Motta, George Chiuvalo and others?

Massive insult to Bugner and La Motta and to a lesser degree Wepner and Chuvalo putting them in Joyce’s bracket.
Wepner and Chuvalo were made to look like that against Ali, not Zhang.

[X]

Fair point, and definitely no insult to those guys intended - but at some point in their careers they were primarily known and famous for having cast iiron chins. They could all fight too though

[Master]

[nuggetdotcom]

You should not be able to get anywhere near World level, just by having a head like a rock.

It’s been done before though; Chuck Wepner, Joe Bugner, Jake la Motta, George Chiuvalo and others?

I resemble that remark about one of Britains (via Hungary) true world class heavyweights, ie Joe Bugner. He was born one month after me, and I followed him throughout his career, he could hardly be accused of taking punches due to lack of boxing nous, as 27 rounds with Ali and 12 with Frazier will prove.

And he did enough to beat Henry Cooper!!!!!!!!! A fight that caused ructions between me and my dad, we almost came to blows ourselves!

I met Joe many times (and Marlene!), lovely bloke, and his son Joe Jr. Also by coincidence met Jake LaMotta when I worked in New Joisey during the 80's, happy daze. Please forgive my ageing rambles.......