Joe Joyce is prepared for a long night in the ring versus ‘Big Bang’ Zhang Zhilei.

He’s just not in the mood for one.

“He looks good and who knows, it could go twelve. I don’t plan on doing that, though,” Joyce quipped during the final pre-fight press conference ahead of their interim WBO heavyweight title fight. “It’s a long time to be in the ring. I plan to get him out of there sooner.”

London’s Joyce (15-0, 14KOs) has only seen the twelfth round once in nearly six years as a pro but was forced to go deep in his two most notable knockouts to date.

The 2016 Olympic Silver medalist fought on relative even terms through nine rounds with countryman Daniel Dubois before earning a tenth-round knockout in their November 2020 battle of unbeaten heavyweights. In his most recent start, Joyce, now 37, pulled away in the second half of the fight with former WBO heavyweight titlist Joseph Parker, whom he knocked out in the eleventh round of their interim title fight last September 24 in Manchester.

While in no way identical to Joyce, China’s Zhilei (24-1-1, 19KOs) boasts the same physically imposing presence. The 39-year-old southpaw—who claimed a Silver medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics—has only been down once, which came early in his pro career. He went twelve hard rounds with Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic, the perceived boogeyman of the division whom Zhilei dropped in the opening round of a questionable split decision defeat in their August 20 IBF title eliminator in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Joyce hopes to avoid having to go that route in their ESPN+/BT Sport headliner this Saturday from Copper Box Arena in Hackney Wick, East London. However, he does not lose sight of the possibility that he is forced to dig deep late in the fight.

“God willing, I get the job done earlier,” vowed Joyce. “I hope it’s not a long, grueling fight and I don’t have to take ‘Big Bangs’—or too many big bangs, anyway.

“It could go a long way. Zhang looks tough. Hrgovic’s good and was hitting him with some good shots and he wasn’t going anywhere.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox