Tony Bellew thinks Joe Joyce should retire after recent losses
Former WBC World cruiserweight champion, Tony Bellew, who fought twice up at heavyweight, has urged Joe Joyce to hang up his gloves after dropping to a third defeat in July this year.
‘The Juggernaut’ was the WBO Interim heavyweight champion after walking through his first 15 opponents, scoring 14 stoppages. But then his career stalled suddenly when he met Chinese powerhouse Zhilei Zhang, who sensationally stopped Joe twice in a disastrous 2023 for the Londoner.
He bounced back with a routine win over Kash Ali in March this year, only to find himself on the canvas yet again, when he stepped back up to face Derek Chisora only one month ago.
This latest setback should be the catalyst for closing the curtain on his career, the cruiserweight clarified when speaking to Casino Apps, “I’ve thought Joe Joyce has been done for a while. I don’t think he’ll ever recover from the Zhilei Zhang fight. Joe’s greatest asset is his durability. Joe’s greatest asset is his toughness and the way he takes punches, that’s gone.
“When you’re getting dropped in fights, it’s just time for him to stop because he’s so slow and so predictable.”
In the first fight with Zhang, Joyce’s right eye was completely closed shut by ‘Big Bang’, courtesy of the Asian southpaw’s huge backhand left.Then, in the rematch, Joyce barely improved at all and was subsequently KO’d with a huge right hook to the head in round three, taking just half the time for ZZ to secure victory no.2.
His latest loss, taking another knockdown in the process, has worried many fight fans that he may try to box on and take more unnecessary punishment.
Bellew shared his genuine concern for Joyce, “It’s just an accident waiting to happen. So I hope Joe walks away because I don’t want to see him get hurt. He’s a lovely man. A lovely, lovely fella.
”And the same goes for Derek [Chisora]”, Bellew added, ”I love Derek. I mean, he’s just gotta stop saying my bleeding name!”