Round-by-Round: Joe Joyce vs. Zhang Zhilei | BT Sport - 15 April 2023

[watsupdoc87]

Was talking to my mate earlier about joyce. We were saying why doesn't anybody go to Joyce's body like Jennings did for afew rounds. Suppose you don't have to if your opponent never moves his head

[Controversial]

Seen and heard and few comments that Joyce was too light, what you think of that? He was a similar weight vs Dubois and lighter earlier in his career. Maybe with hindsight against a 20 stone opponent the extra weight might’ve helped him. Bunce seems to think his camp maybe didn’t go great

[coneye]

A few points

-Zhang was coping pretty handily with everything Joyce was throwing upstairs. Alot of output but also much on the arms and the gloves. Zhang was comfortable despite his output dropping

-Zhang didn't like the bodywork though. If Joyce is gonna put that output, it should be close and to the body. Tire the big man out.

-Joyce liked it to the body even less. When Zhang did go downstairs, Joe was visibly hurt. Usyk and Fury will be well aware.

-Zhang has great timing, deceptive speed and obvious power. Everyone of his fights will follow the same pattern, but he will catch anyone atleast once. It's just a question of how they handled it. Hrgovid handled it physically but not mentally, Joyce handled it mentally but not physically.

-Final one. Does this make Hrgovic look better in retrospect now?

It makes them both very avoidable especielly by Fury

[HomicideHenry]

Well I must admit I didn't see that happening but I think it may prove my point that Joyce in reality is European level. Much as I love Tyson Fury I bet he is kicking himself in the ass right now for not taking on Joyce. All of these guys are ripe for the picking, and the big boys are not fighting each other.

[Coco]

IT would be great if Zhang got a title and fighters needed to go to China to win it off him, real Rocky stuff.

[Controversial]

Joyce was never going to trouble Fury or Usyk, far too slow and predictable. He’s a tough night when fighters stand and trade with him but Zhang appeared too big for Joyce.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Boxing scene had it 3-2 Joyce.

Bullshit that..

[Frostieballs]

It’s not as simple as just saying it was an ‘injury defeat’.

Zhang would have put most over, but Joyce has a decent chin. When punches land that big, however, the damage is going to come out some way or another. Something has to give, in this case it was Joyce’s eye/cheek.

It wasn’t some freak injury. It was the result of Joyce being unable to deal with a Southpaw and leaving himself exposed on that side of his face.

If they rematch and he doesn’t adapt, the same will happen again. He lost because Zhang was better.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Gawd, that bastard Ruthie is probably going to get us to rate Zhang now in the boxrec HW top 15
Where is he at?
He hurt Joyce, but couldn't stop him.
He also ran out of gas by the 4th or 5th.

Eyaaa none of that.. lol

[Grilling Machine]

Well I still reckon Hrgovic is the most overrated heavy since Pulev, so that hasn't changed!

[margaret thatcher]

for the first few rounds..........zhang might be the division's hardest puncher outside wilder. serious dynamite in his hands early, and unfortunetly for joe it blew his eye apart

[jamesmcdonnell]

Boxing scene had it 3-2 Joyce.

Bullshit that..

He did throw and land more in a couple of rpunds

[KiwiRider]

Boxing scene had it 3-2 Joyce.

Bullshit that..

He did throw and land more in a couple of rpunds

A lot was missing or being blocked by Zhang. And when Zhang is landing hard, consistent eye catching straight lefts...
He also wobbled Joyce twice, that is enough to win those rounds on my card.
I had it 3-2 to Zhang and he was winning the 6th before the stoppage.

[Nightmare Roy]

Maybe blocking punches with your face isn’t a good tactic

Yeah be a good idea to work on that in the gym

[watsupdoc87]

Just re watched it on YouTube. Had it 4-1 to Zhang in the 6th and at this point it was clear the china man was gona land easily with jj eye fuked up. Jj punches were mainly landing on Zhangs gloves and Zhang couldn't miss with the left. Hope theres no rematch. Let zhang have his shot. Jj will get a shot at some point being a British heavyweight with a name, especially after that performance. Champs will see it as free money! Top 4 all beat him. No defence and i don't think his chins as good as we all thought. Got rocked and protected by foster a couple times tonight. Fury and usyk outbox him easy, too predictable and wilder kos him probably. I've never rated aj but i think he beats him 9 outta 10 times with his combinations and power, even now

[Nightmare Roy]

Boxing scene had it 3-2 Joyce.

Bullshit that..

Yeah now way, 4-1 Zhang

[watsupdoc87]

Just re watched it on YouTube. Had it 4-1 to Zhang in the 6th and at this point it was clear the china man was gona land easily with jj eye fuked up. Jj punches were mainly landing on Zhangs gloves and Zhang couldn't miss with the left. Hope theres no rematch. Let zhang have his shot. Jj will get a shot at some point being a British heavyweight with a name, especially after that performance. Champs will see it as free money! Top 4 all beat him. No defence and i don't think his chins as good as we all thought. Got rocked and protected by foster a couple times tonight. Fury and usyk outbox him easy, too predictable and wilder kos him probably. I've never rated aj but i think he beats him 9 outta 10 times with his combinations and power, even now

And thats not to say he doesn't win a world title at some point. If he hangs around long enough he has a good promoter, a sizeable enough following and theres 4 belts. So he could still be a world champion 1 day. But the top 4 beat him while there still at it

[watsupdoc87]

Boxing scene had it 3-2 Joyce.

Bullshit that..

Cards like that are why there should be no rematch

[KiwiRider]

If AJ boxed cautious and on the outside like he did in the Ruiz rematch, I think he would be favourite to win vs Joyce.
And yet before tonight, I would have said Joyce all the way.

[jameswilson]

Delete.

[coneye]

If AJ boxed cautious and on the outside like he did in the Ruiz rematch, I think he would be favourite to win vs Joyce.
And yet before tonight, I would have said Joyce all the way.

What for me would still make this fight interesting is Zang hurt Joyce , , but did'nt stop him and was slowing , but he did do the damage too the eye which was intentional , million dollar question is without the eye damage would joyce of took over in the later rnds he was looking like he could definetly had a better engine , but you can;t discount Zangs early speed and power .

Aj now could he hurt Jocye with a single punch like Zang did , you would think so , but he's not an ackward southpaw , so maybee he would land the right hand and do the damage like Zang did the left ,, Aj has been known to gas , and Joyce is still a ploder who will make you work , interesting one still , personaly i would favor AJ stoppage .

Zang well i think he lands on AJ quite a bit early , depends on wether AJ just shells up or fights back ,

Fury well depends the old Fury , outboxes out manouveres and too quick for Zang and Joyce , the new sugar version , gets hit and hurt by both Joyce or Zang , against AJ both versions are a good fight Aj boxes well enough to compete against the old Tyson and is big and stong enough with enough power to hold of the sugar hill tyson .

Some real interesting and good fights out there if only the main men would take them ,

Usyk beats the lot

[tigermoth87]

Joyce EXPOSED as another boxing fraud. Out fought, outclassed and clueless.

[HomicideHenry]

Joyce EXPOSED as another boxing fraud. Out fought, outclassed and clueless.

He's not a fraud it's just a case of bad matchmaking.

I've said for a while now that Joyce is European level, and that wins over older & slower Americans or ex title holders did not make him exactly world class. He got hurt early, and got hit often. That European style of boxing where you are stiff backed, straight legged, and mechanical will only take you so far against punchers and stylists.

That being said, he is capable of avenging that loss. Zhang did not necessarily show me anything except that he was more willing to trade. That made all the difference in the world. Once Joyce heals up, he should campaign for a return bout and work on blocking the left hook. He should incorporate body punches to his repertoire. He can beat Zhang, because Zhang is not necessarily anything too special. He's big, strong, willing and tough but he's slow and ponderous as well.

Don't get it twisted either one of these guys could and most likely would be outboxed or out fought by Wilder, Fury, Joshua and Usyk. They have potential but they don't have much time either. But no there was no exposure here. A genuine exposure was David Price.

[Grilling Machine]

Again, I think R3-5 scoring was wide open to the creeping inevitability of a stoppage taking precedence over isolated content. I can see why some people gave Zhang every round because he takes rightful credit for that, and in the rounds I gave Joyce he was unable to inspire any lasting sense of a likely turnaround.

It's also true he landed mostly on the gloves, and that the short punches he found Zhang's head with weren't to much visible effect. But he did land well to the body, and here's the thing: maybe try rewatching it while imagining he wasn't injured...

Because without the eye I felt they'd have been close after 6, with Zhang still landing better individual shots but tiring faster. By the time Joyce's eye was almost closed he needed a knockdown to make a round feel like a draw.

We try to be neutral in scoring but psychology can sometimes lead us to big deviations from our own standards.

[Ruthless-RKO]

ConpuBox Stats



Despite throwing 284 fewer punches than Joe Joyce, Zhilei Zhang landed 18 more power punches. Zhang’s accuracy, especially in the power punch category (56%), nullified Joyce’s work rate. Zhang couldn’t miss with his left hand, and eventually, Joyce’s right eye was too compromised for him to continue fighting.