Joe Joyce v Zhang Zhilei 4/15

[TIC]

i like this fight

[Master]

Nice to see Joyce keeping busy and taking on good fights. Joyce will wipe out and destroy Zhang.

[ykdadamaja]

i like this fight

Good scrap. Would like to see it.

[Big J]

Joyce takes Zhang deep & drowns him

[TIC]

officially announced

[palmerq]

Well they found some who makes Joyce look quick, impressive work.

[Spicoli]

Well they found some who makes Joyce look quick, impressive work.

Get the feel he'll be out there resembling Sugar Ray vs Zhang. Both of them but still a fun match up.

[Big J]

Zhang can take punch, I just don't think he has the stamina to last the distance against Joyce
Joyce will have fought Zhang, Parker, Takam, Dubois & Jennings before getting a title shot

[Master]

Joyce has demonstrated he deserves a place amongst the heavyweight elite. His next fight will be on April 15 against Zhilei Zhang. As an experienced, heavy-handed southpaw, China's Zhang could be ideal preparation for an eventual fight with Fury or Usyk.

"I haven't fought a southpaw since Lenroy Thomas so it's good to get in there and practice," Joyce said.

"Because as we know Usyk's a southpaw and Fury can switch southpaw as well. Great preparation for the next round of competition."

He believes his fight with Zhang could be another war, at least in the early going.

"I'd say the first five rounds he'd be pretty dangerous. He's got the power and experience," Joyce said.

"It's going to be awkward because he's a southpaw, had good amateur experience, Olympic silver medallist as well."

He thinks Zhang was unlucky to lose a decision to Filip Hrgovic in his last bout. "It was a tough fight right to the end but I thought he did better overall and he was unlucky," Joyce said.

"He was proper blowing in that last round. It's a nice story because I beat Filip Hrgovic in the WSB, I'm fighting Zhang who unfortunately lost out to him.

"It's an exciting fight, a risky opportunity but it's a really good fight."

On Yoka's loss to Takam
Another of Joyce's amateur rivals, France's Tony Yoka did not fare well when fighting Carlos Takam, one of Joyce's former professional opponents himself, last weekend.

"I've fought Takam and also sparred him last camp. He's a good guy and it was good to see him get the victory. He boxed really well," Joyce said.

"Yoka, I don't know. I don't see much difference from the amateurs especially in that performance. He's holding his guard [tight]. The punches he did land were good punches but not that many."

Joyce lost a highly controversial decision to Yoka in their Olympic super-heavyweight final at Rio 2016. But Joyce can compare how he has progressed with Yoka's professional struggles.

"Where he was Olympic champion, he's got too over-confident. His ego, and being able to pick his opponents," Joyce said of Yoka.

"He was saying in an interview, I don't think Joyce will do anything in the pros and it seems to have backfired."

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...e3bd16f5&ei=23

[Spicoli]

Get the feeling these two genuinely like each other a bit. Or just ok dudes.

[Master]

Get the feeling these two genuinely like each other a bit. Or just ok dudes.

Either way Joyce is going to put a whole lot of pain on Zhang.

[Master]

Joe Joyce has offered to fight Tyson Fury in the summer after his rival's clash with Oleksandr Usyk collapsed.

It is expected that Usyk will now be ordered to face Daniel Dubois by the WBA to retain his belts, while Fury will be free to negotiate with a number of opponents after completing his WBC mandatory defence last year. Fellow British star Joyce currently holds WBO mandatory status and would be next in line to face the Ukrainian after Dubois' shot.

And 'The Juggernaut' believes he would be in a position for a domestic clash once he has touched gloves with Zhilei Zhang on April 22. "Is it off or on? I am here and Fury said he wants to fight me so that would be a great summer fight," Joyce told Mirror Fighting in an exclusive chat. "It would be great after I fight Zhang if the Usyk fight doesn't happen.

"I have always said I want to fight Fury and now he has been saying he wants to fight me. I back myself to beat anyone and Fury I have sharred the ring with in sparring and I think it was 50/50 during the rounds. We did good work and I think on the main stage we would up our levels and it would be a great fight.

"Fury said he would like that fight and I am the number two heavyweight so I will beat up Zhang back in London town, and then I am hoping I will be back out here to train [US] to take on Fury."

Joyce is set to face heavyweight rival Zhang next having recently beaten Joseph Parker to ensure that he remains a leading contender in the division. Fury came face-to-face with his stablemate under Frank Warren after beating Derek Chisora late last year, and the pair talked up a fight while stood next to Usyk.

And promoter Lou DiBella has insisted that Joyce would provide a tougher test for the WBC champion than Usyk. He told SecondsOut : "[Joyce] reminds me of the second coming of George Foreman. I consider that a great compliment. "Usyk is a better boxer than virtually everyone. In the heavyweight division, it’s a big gap with most but the gap with Fury is the smallest with Usyk.

"That says to me that Fury is the most difficult fight in the world for Usyk. Joe Joyce, it’s hard to hurt the guy. He’s a freaking monster. He’s got these short, heavy hands. You can see the punches coming and he’s still going to hurt you. He’s relentless."

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...5df2291&ei=124

[Master]

Joe Joyce’s sparring partner Alen Babic has tipped ‘The Juggernaut’ as the toughest fight out there in the heavyweight division.

The 2016 Olympic silver medallist announced himself as an elite heavyweight last year when he knocked out former world champion Joseph Parker.

Since then, his name has been mentioned among those in the upper echelons of boxing’s glamour division and one man who has experienced Joyce’s skills first hand is his sparring partner, ‘Savage’ Babic.

The Croatian is a fellow heavyweight with a record of 11-0, 10 KO’s, and he has also sparred fighters such as Tyson Fury, Dillian Whyte and even Artur Beterbiev, but Joyce tops the lot.

“I sparred Joe Joyce, we did close to 25 rounds in three days and I rate him the highest and I’ve sparred them all,” Babic told talkSPORT.

“I rate Joyce the highest because he’s a tough mother***er and he’s relentless, he has a good punch and I didn’t know that.

“It doesn’t look like he has that powerful a punch, but his hands are very heavy, a heavy-handed guy, and he has an engine like myself, he doesn’t stop and he is double the size of me with the same engine, it’s crazy.”

Joyce has previously been described by WBC world champion Fury as the second best heavyweight in the world and Babic could not agree more.

And Babic, who has also sparred Fury, believes Joyce is the toughest fight in the heavyweight division

Since then, his name has been mentioned among those in the upper echelons of boxing’s glamour division and one man who has experienced Joyce’s skills first hand is his sparring partner, ‘Savage’ Babic.

The Croatian is a fellow heavyweight with a record of 11-0, 10 KO’s, and he has also sparred fighters such as Tyson Fury, Dillian Whyte and even Artur Beterbiev, but Joyce tops the lot.

“I sparred Joe Joyce, we did close to 25 rounds in three days and I rate him the highest and I’ve sparred them all,” Babic told talkSPORT.

“I rate Joyce the highest because he’s a tough mother***er and he’s relentless, he has a good punch and I didn’t know that.

“It doesn’t look like he has that powerful a punch, but his hands are very heavy, a heavy-handed guy, and he has an engine like myself, he doesn’t stop and he is double the size of me with the same engine, it’s crazy.”

Joyce has previously been described by WBC world champion Fury as the second best heavyweight in the world and Babic could not agree more.

“I definitely agree with that,” Babic said. “I put Joyce on top of the list, the top two heavyweights. He is the toughest fight for anybody and he’s an Olympian so you can add that on top of the cake.”

Another high level heavyweight in Anthony Joshua recorded a comeback win over the weekend against Jermaine Franklin, having lost his world titles before against Oleksandr Usyk.

After the fight Joshua mentioned a number of fighters he would like to take on next and that list included Joyce, who will first have to get past Zhilei Zhang on April 15.

“I think Joshua is very brave to take that fight,” Babic said.

“I think Joe Joyce is the dark horse of the heavyweight division and he is the toughest opponent for everybody, including Tyson Fury and Usyk, but I think Joe Joyce is the guy who should be feared.

“I’ve felt his power and we had crazy rounds, I think I did good, I maybe even snatched a few rounds, but sparring is my game, I am even better in sparring than in fights and Joe Joyce proved himself to the ‘Savage’ so I think Joshua is very brave to go after Joe Joyce.”

https://talksport.com/sport/boxing/1...-ranked-fight/

[Master]

And Joyce believes he has what it takes to knock Joshua and Franklin out.

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "I'd knock both of them out with their performance the other night.

"I'd definitely force a stoppage on Franklin and Joshua's ripe for the picking.

"Not great but [Joshua] got the job done. He went 12 rounds, I thought he would come with some more firepower and aim to push a stoppage but he wasn't really putting shots together.

"He was [using] single shots and boxed kind of like he did in the [Andy] Ruiz second fight. So it was a little bit disappointing.

"He seems to have gone, in my opinion, a bit backwards. Hasn't progressed. I think he lacked the combinations but I think Franklin was a tough guy."

He explained: "That would be his route back in.

"It would definitely be his way back in because I'm in front of him now, at last, high up the rankings and obviously got the WBO Interim.

"I was always trying to catch up with him but now I've overtaken him, so that's good. That's what I wanted. But I haven't caught up to him financially yet so I need to have those big fights."

However, Joyce revealed he expects AJ to dodge a fight with him in the summer.

Instead, he believes Joshua will prefer to face off with Whyte, who he previously defeated back in 2015 to claim the British heavyweight title.

Joyce added: "I'm a threat and he would prefer that [Whyte fight] until he's got his mojo back.

"I'd like to see him against Dillian Whyte, because I think Dillian Whyte's in the same situation. He didn't really look too great in the last fight.

"So it would be good to see who the better man is and obviously they've got past bad blood. I think the fans would get behind that fight. It would be a good fight."

Joyce himself is due to fight Zhilei Zhang on April 15.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/21964...shua-franklin/

[Dark Lord Al]

I think this fight is a exciting matchup FOTY possibility.
Joyce reminds me of the old George Foreman slow but tough and hard hitting.