BoxRec

Joe Joyce, Zhang Zhilei To Fight April 15 In London For Joyce’s WBO Interim Heavyweight Title

Zhang Zhilei will get the opportunity to knock off an undefeated heavyweight again in his next fight.

Boxing Scene has learned that the Chinese contender will challenge Joe Joyce for the unbeaten Joyce’s WBO interim championship April 15 at a venue to be announced in London. Joyce-Zhilei will match huge heavyweights who won Olympic silver medals – Zhilei at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and Joyce at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Zhilei – a 6-foot-6, 277-pound southpaw – is the WBO’s 12th-ranked contender in the heavyweight division.

London’s Joyce (15-0, 14 KOs) is the mandatory challenger for Oleksandr Usyk’s WBO belt, but the undefeated Ukrainian southpaw is expected to fight Tyson Fury next. A bout between Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs), who owns the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles, and England’s Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs), the WBC champion, could determine the first fully unified heavyweight champion of boxing’s four-belt era.

Negotiations among representatives for Fury, 34, and Usyk, 36, are ongoing. A date and a site for their fight have not been finalized.

In the 6-foot-6, 271-pound Joyce’s most recent appearance, the hard-hitting Brit became the first fighter to knock out former WBO champ Joseph Parker. Joyce’s crushing left hook dropped Parker and abruptly ended their 12-rounder during the 11th round September 24 at AO Arena in Manchester, England.

The 37-year-old Joyce won the WBO’s interim championship by beating New Zealand’s Parker (30-3, 21 KOs). Joyce was ahead on all three scorecards entering the 11th round (97-92, 97-94 and 96-94).

The 39-year-old Zhilei (24-1-1, 19 KOs) dropped unbeaten Croatian contender Filip Hrgovic in the first round of his last fight. Hrgovic (15-0, 12 KOs) got off the canvas and won their very competitive 12-round IBF elimination match by unanimous decision August 20 at Jeddah Superdome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Hrgovic beat Zhilei by scores of 115-112, 115-112 and 114-113. The 12-rounder between Hrgovic and Zhilei, which was part of the Usyk-Anthony Joshua undercard, determined the IBF’s mandatory challenger for another of Usyk’s championships.

Decent retirement fight for Zhang.

Sign me up.

Should be good whilst it lasts.

I think this'll be ugly for Zhang.

silly bang just going to be demolished in a few thumping rounds .
He is so wide open to big right hands , and JJ hits a lot harder than Hergyvic.

keep busy fight for JJ

This is a fun but short fight. Zhang has about 3 rounds to KO the iron-chinned Joyce because there's no chance he wins after that. Joyce could also break him down within the first minute aswell. I'd favour Joyce about 80:20.

Joyce inside the distance, but love watching Zhang fight, proper hard nut, proper puncher too

gilgamesh wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 13:30 I think this'll be ugly for Zhang.

I think it will be ugly for those watching too

Looks like a hard fight to me. Thought Zhang could have got the nod against FH

Wow, we could really debate at length who is going to win here
Oh- and how much they are going to charge us for the privilege..
I guess Joyce needs to stay busy while the interminable d*cking around with Fury continues.

KiwiRider wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 15:20 Wow, we could really debate at length who is going to win here
Oh- and how much they are going to charge us for the privilege..
I guess Joyce needs to stay busy while the interminable d*cking around with Fury continues.

PPV ? Really ?

tony1234 wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 15:36

KiwiRider wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 15:20 Wow, we could really debate at length who is going to win here
Oh- and how much they are going to charge us for the privilege..
I guess Joyce needs to stay busy while the interminable d*cking around with Fury continues.

PPV ? Really ?

Tony, I seriously wouldn't put it past them.

I’ll wait to watch the recording at x2 speed

I'll pay to watch Joyce fight anyone. All in on him.

garethhop wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 16:55 I'll pay to watch Joyce fight anyone. All in on him.

I'll pay you to watch the Jennings fight again.

joshj909 wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 17:13

garethhop wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 16:55 I'll pay to watch Joyce fight anyone. All in on him.

I'll pay you to watch the Jennings fight again.

Pump it into me.

Joyce to win by stoppage in a brutal fight. Good stuff

Manchester Hitman wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 17:39 Joyce to win by stoppage in a brutal fight. Good stuff

Really think it will be brutal.

garethhop wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 17:29

joshj909 wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 17:13

garethhop wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 16:55 I'll pay to watch Joyce fight anyone. All in on him.

I'll pay you to watch the Jennings fight again.

Pump it into me.

My T Sharp wrote: ↑20 Jan 2023, 16:47 I’ll wait to watch the recording at x2 speed

Ha ha ain't gonna be no Benny hill

Joyce needs to be careful, but I think Joyce breaks him down eventually with pressure. Two good guys that had great amateur careers. I think it'll be very good. Not one I was expecting.

A decent matchup, since Zhang should have been awarded a win in his last bout against Hrgovich, but the Chinese has almost no chances against the Juggernaut. Zhang can bang, but Joyce's chin is freakish, while Joe's engine is much better. Joyce gotta obliterate Zhange by the late rounds.

This is an absolute belter. love this fight soo much stylisticly.

Joyce could probably win easy boxing long on his jab and just outpointing zhang, but thats not what he does. he throws both hands, gets in and rumbles, and uses his chin as his defence... which is very dangerouse in with big zhang.

My guess is joyce will put a pace/volume on zhang and within a few rounds it will just become a beating. but while zhang is up and joyce is marching with zero head movment he will probably walk strait onto a couple of bigggg sickening overhand lefts. if joyce just plods through them then his chin remains "one of the best ever"... but thats a big If.

If joyce walks through Zhang's shots like he's been doing with other fighters, he'll never get a shot at any of the top guys!

Might look good on paper but there's nothing at all in Zhang's repertoire that Joe Joyce can't pick a part and destroy. Virtually all of these so-called guys going to take over the heavyweight division have demonstrated nothing as far as I can see that is special. Dubois, Zhang, Hrgovic, etc are so overrated and blown up it's mind-boggling to me.