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/