NOT SO LONG AGO, in September of last year, many boxing-watchers were confidently predicting that Joe Joyce would become an unstoppable force in the heavyweight division following his showreel KO of Joseph Parker in Manchester.
Sometimes, the other guy is just better. Joe Joyce had several months to plan, adjust, scheme, to focus on one task: reverse the outcome of his first unsuccessful contest with Zhilei Zhang.
Frank Warren rejects the notion that his company has given up on Joe Joyce. Last Saturday night at OVO Arena Wembley in London, China’s Zhilei Zhang stopped Joe Joyce for the second consecutive fight with a brutal right hook in the third round to remain the interim titlist for the WBO heavyweight title. Their first encounter back in April ended with Zhang forcing a stoppage in the sixth round.
Zhilei Zhang isn’t going anywhere. The hard-hitting Chinese heavyweight will remain a Queensberry Promotions-affiliated fighter for the foreseeable future, according to the British company’s founder Frank Warren.
Zhilei Zhang apparently had a little bird or two in Las Vegas keeping an eye on Joe Joyce. Last Saturday night, China’s Zhang dispatched England’s Joyce with a brutal knockout in the third round of their 12-round rematch at OVO Arena Wembley in London. Five months earlier, in April, Zhang stunned oddsmakers by dominating Joyce and handing him his first career defeat with a sixth-round stoppage.
Eddie Hearn, promoter for former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, believes a potential British showdown with Joe Joyce is practically a dead issue for the future.
Joe Joyce is determined that he still has a lot to offer in boxing. The heavyweight suffered a second successive crushing defeat, exclusively live on TNT Sports. Joyce took on Zhilei Zhang in a rematch, just five months after being stopped inside six rounds at the Copper Box Arena in England’s capital, looking to regain the WBO’s mandatory position and the interim heavyweight crown.
Frank Warren hopes his crestfallen heavyweight charge, Joe Joyce, will give retirement a hard look. Joyce, the longtime heavyweight contender from England, suffered a brutal knockout loss to China’s Zhilei Zhang in the third round of their 12-round rematch Saturday night at OVO Arena Wembley in London. In their first encounter in April, Zhang scored a technical stoppage in the sixth round.
Now that he has violently knocked out Joe Joyce in their rematch, Zhilei Zhang wants to fight an even bigger British heavyweight promoted by Frank Warren next. The gigantic Chinese southpaw wasted no time whatsoever calling out Tyson Fury in the immediate aftermath of his
Joe Joyce won’t go out like this. The big British heavyweight has made it clear that he won’t retire after his brutal third-round knockout loss to Zhilei Zhang on Saturday night at OVO Arena Wembley in London. The 38-year-old Joyce is well aware that he has a long rebuilding process ahead of him, but he stated during a post-fight interview posted to Queensberry Promotions’ YouTube page that he has no intention of walking away from boxing.