Heavyweight Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang (25-1-1, 20 KOs), a 10:1 underdog, stopped previously unbeaten WBO interim heavyweight champion Joe “The Juggernaut” Joyce (15-1, 14 KOs) in round six on Saturday night at the Copper Box Arena in London. Zhang landed some big shots in round one. Zhang rocked Joyce with straight lefts in round two. Joyce upped his workrate in round three, but still took some hard shots. Joyce continued his brisk pace while Zhang’s straight left did more damage to Joyce’s closing right eye. The ring doctor finally stopped the fight in round six due to Joyce’s closed right eye. Entering the round, Zhang was up 48-47 on two cards and Joyce was ahead 48-47 on the third card.
Zhilei Zhang: “Today is mine. I’m 39 years old, but I’m disciplined, I trained hard, next step I’m going for the title!”
Joe Joyce: “I’m disappointed with my performance. I couldn’t get out of the way of the left hand he kept hitting me with so respect to Zhilei Zhang, “Big Bang.” It was a good fight. I think I could have done better. I hadn’t fought a southpaw for so long – and credit to him because he’s a good fighter – I gave it my all. It’s just disappointing. I expected to win like I normally do.
“I’d like to apologize to all my fans and supporters..I’ll be back. My journey’s not over. This is just a hurdle I may have tripped over so I’ll be back.”
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Former women’s world champion Mikaela Mayer (17-1, 5 KOs) made her lightweight debut against late sub Lucy Wildheart (10-1, 4 KOs), taking a ten round unanimous decision. Scores were 98-92, 100-90, 98-91 as Mayer claimed the WBC interim 135lb title.
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Former WBO middleweight world title challenger Denzel Bentley (18-2-1, 15 KOs) needed just 45 seconds to demolish Kieran Smith (18-2, 7 KOs).
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Heavyweight Moses Itauma (3-0, 2 KOs) lumbered through six rounds with late sub Kostiantyn Dovbyshchenko (9-13-1, 6 KOs), winning 60-54.
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In a clash between unbeaten lightweights, Sam Noakes (11-0, 11 KOs) smashed Karthick Sathish Kumar (10-1, 4 KOs) in two rounds. Noakes dropped Kumar in round one and finished him in round two.
That little left hook Bentley landed at the beginning of the end was a thing of beauty!
Zhang is a very crafty fighter with quick hands and power. I thought he beat Hrgovic also. He is a tough fight for anyone but I think him vs Andy Ruiz is an intriguing matchup. I wouldn’t count him out against anyone including Fury. Remember he had all kinds of problems with wallin. Joyce is a super nice guy and a very tough guy but his terrible foot work and non-existent head movement caught up to him today. He has a great career as a broadcaster in the near future.
Agreed. He would make a good commentator – if he hangs up the gloves soon enough. He is just too easy to hit and takes heavy punches in virtually every fight he is in.
yeh, Joyce gets offended if his opponents miss him with anything. zhang sure didnt
Why are you replying to a post with a response that has nothing to do with the original post? Lucie mentioned Bently’s hook and you respond talking about Zhang.
If you want a top post than you need to be quicker to respond. You’re just hijacking a spot and switching the subject.
NJ Boxing
wrong…….
Glad it got stopped because you KNOW they would’ve robbed Zhang on the scorecards if went the distance. Great win, I feel he learnt from his last fight to pace himself a bit more so he wasn’t out of gas. I just pray he gets a title shot next and not some bs rematch or eliminator. I don’t think he will beat fury, quite frankly that would be a nightmare matchup for him, but he’s got a chance to knockout uysk.
But at the same time we can’t overate Zhang. A big part of his accurate power punching was due to punching bag Joyce having no defence, head movement, footwork, hand speed etc. Both uysk and fury are very elusive, have defence & great stamina. It will be far harder for Zhang to land consistently on them. I believe fury gives him a boxing lesson. Uysk could get caught and if Zhang uses his huge weight advantage he may be able to tire & knock uysk out. He looked pretty uncomfortable the few times AJ caught him, and Zhang seems like a much harder puncher than AJ.
Agreed. Would be a nightmare matchup for him. His punches are fluid, but his footwork would be insufficient to catch up with Fury in order to plant his feet and deliver his punches.
Zhang should have 2 top 5 wins in his record he beat Hrgovic but not the judges.
L, I appreciate a good punch, but landing under 10 a round is a bad recipe to win a Decision anywhere. I do think that had the eye not puffed Joyce would have out thrown him 4 to 1 down the stretch. The punches caused the damage, but you know that doesn’t always close an eye. Zhang had better figure out his stamina issue or he has only a puncher’s chance against anyone in the top 10.
I was wrong. I predicted Zhang to lose on a SD. No problem. I will admit when I am wrong.
Same here Scooby. I was very wrong about what I thought would happen in this fight.
Same here, Scooby. I thought Joyce would win by a decision or a late round TKO. Kudos to Zhang from the victory. You just never know what these fighters are made of until they fight top opposition. I’m sure Joyce will be back, but he’s running on limited time.
She’s definitely going to have to wait on Katie Taylor – so maybe…. Mayer – Estelle Mossely next??
Mayer was going to get beat badly by Linardatou that’s why they invented this medical excuse about Linardatou to not fight her, this a complete injustice to a world class fighter.
Then why bring announce her in the first place. I don’t know Roberto, that sounds pretty far fetched. They had a long time to pull out of this fight before yesterday.
Huh?
Zhang left jab could not miss, real power. Joe ate all those shots. At 39 yo I wonder how long he can compete at a higher level.
I TOLD YOU!!! Joyce is NOTHING!! Was throwing week ass punches all night and just walking straight forward like a robot. Sad really. I knew Zhang was going to win this fight!! Absolutely destroyed the overrated Joyce. I wish it went a little longer though, would love to see an actual KO. Joyce got a taste of his own medicine in what he did to Dubois haha.
Hahaaha..he finally fought a Guy his size but with better Skills…
You have a really loose definition of “destroyed,” it seems. Not to knock Zhang by any means, but if that fight isn’t stopped or some significant change happens in the remaining rounds? Joyce cruises to a fairly comfortable points win.
Huh ? Lol he was already down on the cards and taking a beating . But yes if Joyce let Zhang punch himself by landing flush over and over in his face Zhang may have passed out from exhaustion.
Wtf?!? Points win?! HOW? Joyce lost every single round. Maybe he won one.
I had it 48-47 Joyce, same as one of the three judges and only one point off from the other two. Zhang would have won the 6th round had it been scored, which would’ve knotted it at 57-57. But counterpunching against a guy with Joyce’s work rate isn’t conducive to winning on points. Had it gone the distance and there been no stoppage or knockdowns to alter the outcome? Joyce wins based off that.
Truth,
Please put down the crack pipe already. Do you know how ridiculous you come across?
Pathetic is what you are…
Truth, we’re you watching that fight threw Joyce’s right eye?
Because of the scorecards right? I’m reality, he won nowhere near the rounds as the cards indicated. The developing market was disrupted.
Zhang is s tough, good fighter. Great for boxing!
100% agree with you
Joyce fought Zhang’s fight, big mistake from Joyce and his corner.
Ridiculous how nonchalant his corner was with the end swell. They had no idea what they were doing. Cornerman dropped it on the floor and then just left it there.
As A Brit, I’m ashamed of the scoring, whoever had Joyce ahead needs to be stopped from judging ever again. Every round was Zhangs.
No, it wasn’t. Counterpunchers, especially against someone as active as Joyce, aren’t likely to win many rounds. I gave Zhang the first two. After that? Joyce was active enough to win the rest.
Even the British announcers had Zhang winning every round except the fifth, when he took a rest.
Thank god you’re not a judge!! You see a guy moving his arms and apparently it’s enough for him to win the round, according to you. Joyce was active but the VAST majority of his punches were hitting gloves, parried or completely missed.
The guys who worked the fight scored it pretty closely to what I did, and if you put that fight video in front of a group of 100 judges? 75% or more of them would fall +/- one point of how those working it scored it.
Activity? Counts.
Effective activity counts.
Sorry but this often the case in your country, not as bad as in Germany though
No, Germany used to be the worst for this but it’s England now.
My suspicions were confirmed ,so happy for Zhang he’s earned it.
Zhang had to knock him out to win in England. I am ashamed to say but British judging has become as corrupt as Germany and Italy.
Don’t leave off the USA. It’s the worst of them all, tho UK is close.
I guess wherever you view the most fights is where the worst decisions happen. Most fights I’ve seen are in the US, and therefore it’s been home to the worst decisions I’ve seen. The problem of horrific and easily influenced judges is a worldwide problem in boxing.
Says a lot about the rest of the heavyweights other than the big names. They suck. Lol
The division is pretty sad when fans think of Ruiz as fast and Zhang’s punches as quick. Most of the top 10 are chubby, slow and incredibly clumsy.
On the plus side there are quite a few entertaining fights that could be made if these guys fought more often.
you are way off Zhang is quick and very sneaky ,he doesn’t telegraph any punches at all…this guy can box and fight .he is the real deal.
Last week it was Fundora. This week it was Joe Joyce. I had the wrong Big Bang Theory. Big Bang did an A+ job tonight. I am impressed.
He is the FIRST (1st) Chinese boxer to win a world heavyweight championship. This is now a trivial pursuit question.
Go Zhang Go !!
So Jerry Forrest did a better job against Zhang than Joe Joyce did. Anderson stopped Forrest in 2. And here is the funny thing. Zhang might have a chance of knocking Anderson out.
There was no world title on the line tonight.
I am shocked and don’t know what to say
The only thing I know now is the top 4 hwts left in any order
1.fury
2.usyk
3.wilder
4.Anderson
Correct me 5 negatives, iam waiting
I do….your not an expert in boxing
You must be a newbie
Darrel I completely agree if you mean Jared Anderson. Even though his green I would take him over Joshua
Darrell, completely disagree, Wilder should be no.4, he has lost 2 out of his last 3 fights and Anderson hasnt even beaten a top 20 fighter.
Anderson shouldnt even be ranked top 15 yet.
Read the post in ANY order
I am going to be honest. I am glad I did not bet on this fight, because I would have lost. I really thought Joyce was going to win by KO or TKO. Instead he got KTFO.
Zhang did a great job. Very proud of him.
The fight completely resembled the Zhang/Hrgovic fight. The only difference was Joyce’s eye was so messed up that the fight was stopped whereas Hrgovic was able to fight through the beating and win on points. Zhang is a tough out, and the even fight with Hrgovic (who I think comes out smelling like a rose based on the fact Zhang beat Joyce) and the Joyce win prove he’s a legit threat.
Zheng won the only way a foreign Boxer can win in a tight contest in the UK-by stoppage
Congratulations to Zhang!
Yes and what a surprise !
I called him a bum two years ago to slow and no endurance
Joyce? He’s no bum. He got beat, but he’s not a bum. He’s absolutely, positively a top 10 guy. This seems like an extreme, emotional take. How many guys would you favor over Joyce? 5 or 6, maybe.
Well done Zhang, Joyce was overrated and slow,and hittable
Wow, didnt see this coming. Well done big bang, I was tipping against you but happy to be proven wrong
This fight- albeit with a completely different end- reminded me of Wlad/Sanders. It was like Joyce’s sparring didn’t prepare him for the way the southpaw threw his punches. It felt the same when Wlad lost; it was like he didn’t see the punches coming at him. Sometimes you spar for a certain type of punch but it comes at you totally different in the actual fight. It felt like every left hand rang Joyce’s bell, just like Sanders did to Wlad.
Good comparison, maybe Joyce got sloppy and thought he would run right through him which might have been the case with the Wlad/Sanders fight too
That was the best thing that could happen for boxing which now has one and a half billion new fanatical boxing fans!
I opened the page expecting and upset
And ?
There it is
Zhang reminded me of a younger Ortiz with a better chin
Good fight. Zhang clearly had more skills. Looked like he was gonna start to fade, but Joyce has no defense at all. Add to that he was fighting a southpaw. Congratulations to those who picked Zhang. Joyce has no answer for the southpaw style. I wouldn’t have put my guy in with him. Zhang ain’t much in my view, but Joyce’s lack of defense was the story of the fight.
10:1 underdog?? How ridiculous.
I thought the same when I saw the odds on this fight. Probably would have put money down on Zhang at those odds if I lived in an area where sports betting was legal. Every once in awhile Vegas will have a fighter way too heavily favored, but this fight takes the cake. No damn way Joyce should have been 10:1.
What a surprise ! I was clearly wrong about Zhiley and thought he was slower than he actualy is.. Congrats to him for his win !
Slowness kills. Joe Joyce’s kryptonite.
100% I got this wrong! Oh well..good on the Asian Shrek & time to eat crap..
LOL..there is to much going out for you to eat any.
Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang did what he had to do with a fighter whom hasn’t developed and has no head movement whatsoever, I think Jared Anderson beats these guys with ease talent wise anyhow. Jared has speed power can switch hit and great mobility and just need to tighten his defense a bit and he will be unstoppable. Zhang is 39 and should get a shot, but he’ll come up short although in America living now, we all should have a problem with the Chinese any dammmm way! Their out to destroy America…………… Period
What has Anderson done to make you think he’s capable of beating these guys? He has yet to fight a real top 25 guy, let alone an actual contender. Joyce looked great against far better fighters than anyone on Anderson’s resume. He hasn’t even fought a guy that returns fire.
Thank you Fightnews ! Proud of being a hall of famer ! I’m a longtime fan of this website since it’s beginning i think but sadly changed my e-mail adress two times wich makes me take a bit longer to achieve the legend status like my website peers and friends Arturo and Lucie.. But i will continue to post my thoughts on boxing trying to keep it honest and in a good spirit like i always did..
Zhang has faster hands and more accuracy than Joyce. To me that made all the difference in the fight.
At 6 to 1 odds for Zhang this was an easy bet but since rino snake Desantis couldn’t get sports betting passed wasn’t able to make any money! Also who watches girls boxing when you already know there isn’t going to be a KO lol. It’s like watching women’s
Wow! I was wrong. Hats off to Zhang! Sounds like this was a good fight. I’m sure Joyce will be back, but now we know more about Joe. Zhang might get his heavyweight shot now, maybe before he hits 40?!
You can’t just walk through punches. That’s sure crippled his chances at a title shot too.
I was always wondering how Joyce would fare vs. Wilder. After tonight, who do you guys have in that fight? In addition to widely outmaneuvering Joyce, Zhang also rocked Joyce in the fight, which was interesting to see.
Wilder would knock out Joyce, Zhang, and that punk (Anderson).
LOL Wilder isnt KOing Zhang thats for sure ,Zhang would box circles around Wilder then KO him probably around 6-8.
Say what you will, but I’d watch that fight. I’d pick Wilder over Zhang, but it’s far from a slam dunk. Zhang might dump him early. In fact, I’d expect Wilder to fight fairly cautiously. Fury flattened him, and while Fury puts punches together a lot better, he doesn’t hit harder.
Zhangs shots sent a 260+ man flying back when they connected ,I actually wouldnt be surprized if Zhang KOed Wilder within 2 or 3rds…Joyce is a powerhouse and Zhang played with him…Wilder wont be able to handle the pressure 100%.
Wilder cleans his clock with ease. Joyce might be a steady moving tank, but Wilder has a nuke that can drop from different angles. If Joyce were to cancel out Wilder’s right hand, it would get very interesting.
Leading up to this fight all Joyce talked about is AJ, instead of looking at the fight infront of him.
AJ knows how to beat Anderson and Zhang. Joyce would be easy work for AJ. Even the AJ of today.
Beating AJ? lol. Joyce, go home and get your shine box.
Disagree… the Joshua of four or five years ago might run through these guys, but the Joshua of today looks like he’s just going through the motions before his check clears.
I’ve always said that Joyce was overrated. Glad it was proven here tonight. Kudos to. Zhang for the win.
Well done Zhang u beat the guy i was sure to win.
Fury in 2!
I wonder now if Joyce was overrated. Zhang is a real heavyweight with a punch. It seemed to Zhang was disrupting Joyce’s rhythm with the jab.
I knew Joyce’s lack of speed would be his downfall, especially against a guy with fast hands like the Chinaman. Hrgovic and Zhang need to run it back, because they are the future of this heavyweight division. Joyce would never do any better than he did tonight against Zhang.
An upset only for those who bet their money on Joyce. Joyce has demonstrated fight after fight, his inability to bridge the gap properly and how he can take one hell of a shot.
Many of us have said that as soon as he steps up and fights anyone with accurate punching, that he could be in serious trouble. This wasn’t a step up, but Zhang can land his shots in straight lines and off rhythm.
I don’t see it as a derailment, but I stead a learning lesson. Closing the gap effectively difference between calculating and straight up wat in every fight, which severely shortens your career.
Well said… Joyce needs to work off his jab like he did against Dubois. He looked like a monster in that fight, but he stayed very rudimentary and dominated with the jab. It feels like he’s trying to mix up his punches more now, but it leaves him in awkward positions. The first rule of being on the slower side is control the distance and don’t get caught trading power punches in volume.
Great point. Stick to what has worked so far. It would have given Joyce a better chance in this fight.
It will be a tough mission to change his style around at this stage.
Zhang reminds me of a chinese bigger version of Corrie Sanders
Interesting comparison
Sanders was very fast on his feet and his hands both but Zhang is only fast with his hands.
Zhang went out with a bang, what an upset.
I see Zhang beating AJ, Wilder and all the rest except Fury and Usyk
I agree and hes is a real threat to both those men ,this guy can box and fight hes the real deal Paul.
pass it around/ the first Chinese Heavyewheat champion ever i sure as chit will..
Zhiang continues to ‘bang everything’…..
HAhahaha!
I like joe Joyce he has done well especially against Joseph Parker where he dominated Parker plus beating Dubois earlier in his fights but last night unfortunately he got thumped I really hope he recovers from this and comes back again with improvements to me Joyce didn’t seem to fire on all cylinders against zhang he actually looked nervous on this one good win for zhang
Ajl agree, Joyce did not look right, nervous yes. Recon his weight when he fought against Parker, 271¼, suited him much better, he looked solid and comfortable, even moved better. At 256 he looks too light and even weaker. Maybe a comparison like Fury is also better being heavier.
Zhang fought well and capitalised on the technical deficiencies of Joyce. Joe Joyce and his team need to go back to the drawing board and perhaps bring in a trainer who can teach him the value of moving your head, not staying in front of your opponent and getting off the line of his power hand(especially a banger), using the jab to set up the follow up attack, how to snap your punches instead of pushing them, etc. All is not lost though, Joyce takes a good punch and these flaws can easily be ironed out by a quality trainer. That being said it was a very entertaining fight which made a mockery of the 10:1 underdog status given to Zhang.
joyce should go back to the gym and work on head movement he is like a robot straight into zhangs left hand
He cannot change he fights the same every fight ,no difference whatsoever.
Nothing surpricing! Zhang is as tough as they come! Joyce thought it was going to be another walk in the park!
Good win, but Joyce was very simplistic, squared & head on the line.
Still Good win for Z.
He should try and Unify all the Intramural belts(wbo, wba & ibf) that would be an obtainable goal. If he succeeded he’d truly be in line with more seasoning and a better chance.
None of the other top Heavy’s fight like Joyce is what I’m sayin. So to try and get the shot off this win would be stupid, unless it’s just for the bag.
I knew a long time ago watching Joyce fight that as soon as he stepped up in competition somebody would expose him he’s way too slow and his only defense is his face any reason
It’s not like Joyce hasn’t been in with top guys before…. He’s sparred with AJ and Fury, fought Hrgovic in whatever the hell kind of unsanctioned fight that was, has amateur fights against everyone, and pro wins over Dubois and Parker. He needs to go back to the Wlad style using jabs as 3/4 of his thrown punches. He needs to control the range better.
Most of Joyce punches hit gloves or air
Bs scorecard
Joyce would have come back and won, this was a lucky break for Zhang who looked totally gassed.
It very much resembled the Zhang / Hrgovic fight except it got stopped on the eye injury.
you dont know what you are looking at Zhang wasnt tired at all and would have KOed Joe later if the fight continued.
This is great for boxing. Nice to see the lesser names upset the apple cart. Time for boxing to shift away from focusing on UK fighters. Give this man a title shot against Fury or Usyk since Fury-usyk isn’t going to happen anyway.
No excuse but Joyce’s corner only used enswell between 4th-5th never before that
Awful corner work!
I have to eat some crow, but I’m sure it tastes better than what Joyce ended up eating.
Let’s just say I had the wrong face getting messed up. Zhang couldn’t miss with that left and it is legitimately heavy. Unfortunately, he can’t seem to throw more than 20 punches a round. I don’t see that working against the likes of Fury or Usyk.
Joe Joyce reminds me of former British heavy Audley Harrison, once touted as the next best thing but was too slow,shit defence and no head movement .
There’s a big gap between (in standards) Olympic boxing and professional boxing and unfortunately Mr Joyce has been exposed
No. Harrison was glass-jawed. Joyce has some limitations, but he’s not getting run over like Audley.
Have not been on here since the fight. My pick was definitely wrong on this one for sure! That said…I said Joyce has a great chin and while he did get hurt a few times in this fight I still think he has an excellent chin. He gets hit way too much and in this fight it caught up with him. Maybe his chin could take them but his eye could not. The man who keeps proving me wrong is Zhang! Maybe he is the one I should be comparing to Foreman. Like Klitschko (Vlad) it seems he has learned who he is and now knows how to pace himself. Now a couple of good performances does not make him Foreman or Vlad but I do want to see more of him! I think Joyce showed a lot of class and has a couple of good pay days in him still. Him vs Chisora, rematch with Dubois, or Whyte would all make money. If he gets a win or two then he could try Zhang again depending on the landscape. But for now it is Zhang’s time to get a big fight with Fury, Usyk, or Joshua. Imagine him vs Wilder….that could get crazy!
10:1 underdog! Someone made decent money bettering on Zhang. Let’s stop playing around with this guy and get him bigger fights. Ruiz, Wilder etc.
I watched a replay of this fight on YouTube. It wasn’t the fact that Zhang demolished Joyce. It was more of the fact that Joyce’s eye just puffed up too much so the referee called the fight. Much like when Joyce beat David Dubois. Not only that, Joyce just did not look right in the fight, to me. He looked very weak and vulnerable, even before the first meaningful punch was thrown. Go back and watch the fight, minus the few times when Zhang landed cleanly, he didn’t looked at all impressive himself. Just my opinion. But yes, Joyce needs to learn to move a lot more so he just doesn’t get hit so easily.