Can an old or ageing heavyweight be taught new tricks ?
Tomorrow night (Sept 23rd) at London’s Wembley Arena we’ll find out as Britain’s ‘Juggernaught’ Joe Joyce attempts to ‘right the wrong’ in losing his previously undefeated record to Chinese behemoth Zhilei ‘Big Bang’ Zhang back in April this year.
Both come in as elite heavyweights, certainly by virtue of their international amateur background and being high in the current world professional rankings. Rated top ten by The Ring magazine; Zhang at #4 and Joyce #6, the WBO interim title is up for grabs, whatever that may be !
More importantly, is the retention of their world ranking and the rights to challenge for the legitimate title(s) whenever they become available. The majority of sanctioning body titles are currently held by undefeated Ukrainian southpaw Oleksandr Usyk and, Britain’s undefeated Tyson ‘Gypsy King’ Fury. The latter being the so called ‘lineal champion’ as ‘the man, who beat the man etc’.
Joyce (15-1-0, 14 KO’s), from Putney, south London, has just turned 38 and for only the second time in his career he comes in as a betting underdog. The facts and consensus is he must improve considerably from the first fight to prevail against the huge and big punching Chinese southpaw. (25-1-1, 20 KO’s).
Joyce has never been hard to hit as he regularly plods forwards.
The Greatest Muhammad Ali playfully christened George Foreman “The Mummy” when he stepped forward. Joyce comparatively, makes Foreman look like Fred Astaire ! To prevail he must be more illusive, no doubt. Walking in straight lines to fellow heavyweights is never advisable or a winning strategy.
Joyce has to move his head more, allied with lateral movement to avoid some of the damage the Chinese will seek to offload on him again.
Zhang, aged 40, and at 6 foot 6 inches, is good and adds that southpaw style and fast hands to his arsenal. Age may catch up with him but given the short period between both fights that is unlikely. Tyson Fury is blunt in his strategy and assessment of Joyce’s chances. “Chop him down like an old Oak tree”. He added “If he doesn’t do something different this time, he (The Chinese) will beat him again”.
A recent rematch has bucked the general trend with Chris Eubank Jr. emphatically avenging his earlier loss to Liam Smith. That will provide additional incentive and optimism for Joyce to correct his wrong. Whilst we expect him to be more tentative than previously, now fully knowing and appreciating Zhang’s strength and skillset, We do though think Joyce will ultimately revert to type and not resist the temptation to engage. This may again be his downfall.
The Chinese’ fast hands will be the telling factor and we expect largely a repeat of the previous contest. The stoppage may come sooner, but it’s unlikely the right eye that was so marked up in the first fight will hold out, and the referee may step in during the mid rounds to leave Joyce to compete for domestic dominance before challenging again for world honours.
The full card and main event promoted by Queensberry will be shown live on TNT Sports (formerly BT Sports) in the UK from 19:30 BST. It will be televised on ESPN+ in the US.
It should be a good night’s action also featuring London’s two-time world light-heavyweight challenger Anthony Yarde (23-3, 22 KO’s) against late replacement Jorge Silva (22-8, 12 KO’s), but this should be a stoppage walkover for Yarde as he begins his step back to world title contention.
The card will also feature a mix of young starlets from nearby Kent in the shape of decorated amateur and undefeated professional Sam Noakes (11-0, 11 KO’s) at lightweight, and the promising Moses Itauma (4-0, 2 KO’s) who is impressing at heavyweight.
What’s sure is there will be fireworks during the evening. Both fighters in the main event have weighed in a career heaviest, being in excess of 20 stones. Official weights earlier today were Joyce – 281.2 lbs and Zhang – 287.2 lbs. On Saturday at least one world ranked heavyweight will go back to the drawing board but it should be fun watching who.
The Undisputed 