Joe Joyce 256 vs. Zhilei Zhang 278
(WBO interim heavyweight title)
Mikaela Mayer 134.5 vs. Lucy Wildheart 134.4
(WBC female interim lightweight title)
*Wildheart stepped in after Mayer’s original opponent Christina Linardatou was denied a license by the British Boxing Board of Control due to a permanent contact lens in one of her eyes.
Moses Itauma 247 vs. Kostiantyn Dovbyshchenko 241
Sam Noakes 134.5 vs. Karthik Sathish Kumar 134
Venue: Copper Box Arena, London
Promoter: Queensberry Promotions
TV: ESPN+
He will still be slow …Less weight,means less Jaw and less Punch…!
As slow as Joyce is, this will be target practice. Weigh does make a difference.
I think this will be great while it lasts. Zhang punches hard and if I were him I would go to the body. We know Joyce has a granite jaw so maybe see how he takes it downstairs. Still Joyce maybe slow but I do not believe Zhang is the guy who can take advantage of that. Big dudes…hope they have a strong referee!
Lol explain to how Joyce jaw is granite little 10 year old kid? Joyce has only been a pro for a few years and only has 15 or so fights. How can you determine if a person has a granite chin after 15 pro bouts?
Harry Sachs, if you can’t see after 15 fights if a boxer has a good jaw or not you don’t know much about boxing.
You say after 15 fights wether you can tell after 15 fights if a boxer has a good jaw , we thought after 15 fights that big David price had a good jaw, we were all proven wrong on his 16th fight against tony Thompson
Jeffa, good argument. David Price was more exposed by Thompson though as Thompson was much more experienced with 39 fights at the time (36-3 record) where Price had only 15 fights at the time. You can’t honestly say you have not seen so far that Joyce has a good jaw? Be real.
Don’t even bother with these little kids. These are the same people who think Tyson Fury is 6’9 because they heard someobody else say it. These are the same kids who are like being 6’5 makes you are a super heavyweight when in reality there is no such thing as a super heavyweight as a pro and there are have been tons of 6’5 plus boxers since the 1970’s and I never heard anybody call them a super heavyweight.
Lol Joyce only faced one guy who was a puncher child and that was Daniel Dubois. So facing one puncher in your career and not being knocked down means you have a granite chin? Only to you little goofy 12 year old kids who think they know boxing because they watched Jake Paul “box”.
Harry not certain about the 10 year old kid relevance but you make a point…Joyce has not been hit by murderous punchers like Cooney, Morrison, Frazier, Shavers, or Wilder yet….fair enough. For me it is not that he survives punchers from decent heavyweights like Dubois or Parker it is that the punches seem to have no affect on him whatsoever. That said Zhang is a very hard puncher so it will be interesting to see how Joyce responds if hit cleanly the way he has been in previous fights.
Being hit by decent punchers and not being stopped in 15 bouts doesn’t equate to having a granite chin. Joyce was knocked out 3 times in the first round as a 27 year old amateur though. No boxers chin get better with age.
Lol you typed murderous punches and then name Joe Frazier but not George Foreman. Also Wilder has yet to knock out any legit top guys who were still in their primes..
By the level of competition he has fought and the punchers who were in it ! Joyce has a hell of a jaw !
Regis, I agree. Joyce’s chin is durable with the opposition he has faced thus so far. Yet, Joyce’s style of constantly moving forward is what makes this fight intriguing which is tailored-made for action. I do feel Joyce pulls off the victory in this fight with a SD.
It has nothing to do with the number of fights. It has more to do with the level of competition.
Joe’s jab will mess Zhang’s face up before the 6th..then either ref or his corner will stop the bout.
Zhang’s head too big to get out the way of that jab. Likely a TKO stoppage on cuts and/or too much punishment
Im ready for the criticism,
Joyce is probably the best hwt besides fury
I agree.
I disagree ,we will find out some more to this question after this fight but I believe Usyk and Sanchez would defeat Joyce handily maybe even Andy Ruiz he has fast hands and loads of power.
Maybe not Andy but I agree with you about Usyk and Sanchez
Not sure about that. Usyk did beat him In the semi pro bout and even though I think Joyce is more well rounded than Wilder I’m not sure he could take that right hand. He would KO Joshua though for sure. Top 4
Lol yeah because beating a faded Joseph Parker who wasn’t that good to began with clearly makes you a great fighter.
Joe Parker isn’t “faded” and WAS “that good to begin with”.
In his fifth fight, Joe also beat aging former top heavyweight challenger Francois Botha 48-8-3 with a fearful kayo in round two. Also kayoed 4th-ranked Aleksandr Dimitrenko in round four and then beat #1 Andy Ruiz by UD for the WBO title. He also beat Hughie Fury, Carlos Takam and lost a dubious decision to Dillian Whyte when both men knocked the other down; one for Whyte from a blatant headbutt. Parker knocked the exhausted Whyte down in the 12th round with seconds left.
He lost his WBO title to Joshua when the ref kept curiously breaking the fighters every time that Parker bashed his way inside to attack the suspect Joshua.
Parker’s TRAINING then became “faded” as his punching power looked neglected by his then trainer Kevin Barry. Now at friend Tyson Fury’s gym under trainer Andy Lee, Parker – could still turn the trick. We’ll see.
I’m with everybody, this should be fun while it lasts. Both guys are true Super Heavyweights and come forward. Neither are fast, but I think Joyce’s jab will be the difference. It’ll be interesting to see if he actually using better angles to land it, but Zhang will be there to be hit. I definitely think this one will end with Zhang’s face a mess, but he’ll likely be still standing. His corner or the Referee will stop it inside of 8.
As for Joyce, assuming I’m right, he both needs and deserves his shot! Age is not his friend! I think Usyk probably out hustles him, but a Fury fight is a pick em. I think Joe is big and strong enough to track Fury down and also think the antics won’t bother him. It would be a great fight and an absolute no brainer in England.
Joyce vs Joshua is worth making too. I feel this fight would be a pick em too. AJ should be too athletic, but his confidence and hunger seem to have left the building. Another fun fight in England (they’ve never been this good at Heavyweight before!!!).
The moment a person uses the term super heavyweight you know they are a 14 year old kid who needs to stick to watching Dragonball and playing Pokemon.
Why can’t you stop talking about 14 year old kids?
Sounds like he has an infatuation with children.
Joyce is in trouble. This is an even fight tho.
Zhang will probably get in a few good shots but not enough to do any damage. He will probably fade at the halfway point and then Joyce stops him.
It will be great for boxing if Zhang wins. Boxing will immediately get about one a half billion new boxing fans. Go China!
That’s going to be the slowest HW fight ever lol !
Joyce does not need to trade punches with this guy; just a repeat of the Dubios fight. Just because they are big men does not mean speed and fitness are not important. Joyce has his eye on the price will fight the smart fight. Zhang is not adding muscle and will be even slower then usual carrying a spare tire… Zhang has heart so probably makes it past 5 rounds but after that it will be a question of when Zhang’s corner throws in the towel. I doubt Zhang wins more then 1 round in this fight.
I think this match will be interesting to watch. The question for me is how will Zhang’s stamina handle the final three rounds.
I also think Usyk would have problems against Joyce over 12 rounds of crazy pressure. No obvious win for Usyk.
Sanches, I also agree, would be a very difficult opponent for Joyce, as well as Wilder, possibly also a fully trained Ruiz, of course Fury, but otherwise I keep Joyce as the favorite against the rest of the top 20.
Biggest hw surprise since Ruiz Joshua 1… Happy for a Chinese to possibly fight for a title. Zhang may not be muscled but carried all extra weight well. Zhang has poor stamina and fights with his mouth open but he got to Joyce early and was able to hurt Joyce with counters at will. Joyce power was not bothering Zhang. Sadly Joyce probably never fights for the title. Joyce is a classy guy – not tantrums in defeat like AJ after Usyk fight. Would like to see Zhang stay busy for another fight in 2023.