A brief look at Joyce – Zhang
Joseph Joyce (holder of the interim WBO boxing world title) and Zhang Zhilei will meet in a duel between the British and the Chinese which will take place in London at the Copper Box Arena ring on April 15, 2023.
The rivals have both won Olympic silver medals and are set to ignite the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in jess than a week's time.
This time, either the Juggernaut will lose for the first time in his flourishing career, or the Big Bang will taste defeat for the second time in a row.
According to the bookmakers, the Brit is the overwhelming favourite. However, the Asian should not be written off in advance, with such an extensive and successful amateur background behind him.
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Joseph Joyce
The Juggernaut made his debut in professional boxing in October 2017 and managed to fight 15 times within six years. Having won all contests but one by KO, the Londoner is known for his relentless style and high output, that often beats his competitors into submission rather than by one-punch konckouts.
American Bryant Jennings was the only foe to go the distance in their 2019 12-round WBA Gold bout.
Starting from 2020, the WBO No.1 fought five times and finished all ahead of schedule. Defeated by Joyce were Michael Wallisch, Daniel Dubois, Carlos Takam, Christian Hammer and former world champ Joseph Parker.
Now the heavyweight from London lays it all on the line against an opponent who will be a risky fight to take when he has a shot at unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk at stake.
Zhang Zhilei
The countdown of the professional career of the “Big Bang” should start from January 2017, when the Chinese combatant claimed the WBO Oriental crown by finishing Peter Graham withiin 178 seconds. The East Asian then knocked out Mark Brown, Curtis Harper, Nick Givas, Byron Polley and Eugen Buchmuller. Interestingly, Zhang finished off all of the above opponents within the first round. With Dan Hainsworth, they managed to defend the championship belt in the third three-minute period, and the Ukrainian Andrei Rudenko lost on points.
In 2021, the left-hander from China had a 10-round fight with gatekeeper Jerry Forest, which ended in a draw. Post-fight, Zhang was whipped away to the hospital suffering from dehydration due to a loack of food and water intake during fight week which was spent in "The Bubble". Zhang started brightly with knockdowns in the each of the first three rounds, then faded visibly to just about hold on to hear the final bell of 10 rounds.
This was followed by quick victories over Craig Lewis and Scott Alexander. In the showdown to become the mandatory contender for the IBF heavyweight championship, Zhang lost to Croat Filip Hrgovic via unanimous decision. The European was regarded by many as the rightful winner, but the contest was still a close affair.
So in his big test against Forrest, he came out with a draw by the skin of his teeth, then in his biggest fight of his career, he was cruelly handed a loss, perhaps undeservingly. But in each case, he didn't win. However, you can look at this in two lights – one that he fell short in his biggest tests, or that he showed bravery in a contest where he was debilitated and that he did enough to win in his biggest ever fight.
Either way, it shrouds the outcome of this next fight in mystery. will he surprise everyone with the skill he showed against Hrgovic, or will he fall short again in what is an ever bigger fight than his career draw and defeat?
Forecast
One of these warriors is called a "Juggernaut", the other "Big Bang"… this should set the tone of the contest and that is that it won't go the disctance!
Joyce is unyielding and there won't be a moment's rest for the visitor. Zhang can move and hit fast for such a big guy but he will be a hittable target for Joyce, and that goes for the other way around too. Joyce takes many shots as a stand up tall fighter, but he is blessed (or cursed) with a granite chin so if you catch him cold, he will just blink and continue.
Zhang has shown he has stamina issues, so he will not be able to last 12 rounds with Joyce.