By Scott Gilfoid: 2016 British Olympic Silver medalist Joe Joyce says he’s been the leading sparring partner for IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in getting him ready for his big money title defense against Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. The big 6’6” Joyce was asked on Thursday if it’s true what Tyson Fury said on his Twitter about hearing that he’s been battering Joshua during their sparring sessions.
Joyce smiled, and said he had no comment However, Joyce did say that his sparring sessions with the 6’6” Joshua is VERY competitive, and which isn’t surprising to learn. Joshua needs distance to throw his power shots. He’s not very good in close, even though he does have some punching power when he’s crowded by his opponents. Joyce is a completely opposite type of fighter. Joyce is at his best when he’s at close range throwing huge shots with both hands to the head and body. Joyce reminds me of a bigger version or welterweight Errol Spence with the way he is able to get maximum power on his shots from the inside.
“Nothing official yet,” said Joe Joyce about him signing with a promoter o start his professional boxing career. “In the next couple of weeks, I should have a big announcement. It’s a bit under wraps. I’ve set all my offers on the table pretty much. It’s about choosing the right path for the next couple of years, the next 5 to 6 years; a new journey. It should be exciting. Joshua might be more suited to his type of style than Fury was,” said Joshua in talking about the Wladimir Klitschko vs. Anthony Joshua fight on April 29.
“No comment, but it was interesting to see my phone blowing up on twitter,” said Joyce when asked if it’s true that he’s been getting the better of Joshua in sparring sessions to help him prepare for Klitschko. “But I’m not going to confirm or deny. I got good spars and they got really competitive. I’m kind of the leading sparring partner. Obviously, sparring is different from fighting. I’d like to add that. Ask around, I give lots of people trouble,” said Joyce in talking about the problems he gives different fighters when sparring with them.
So there it is. Joyce isn’t confirming or denying that he’s been working over Joshua in his sparring sessions. I’m not surprised if Joyce is smashing Joshua around the ring. All you have to do is look at how Joyce fights to know that he would be a nightmare for a non-mover like Joshua. This is George Foreman smashing Ken Norton. Joyce is a lot like a young George Foreman. Norton was a guy that was destroying everyone until he fought Foreman, who took him apart at close range with uppercuts, hooks and body shots in stopping him in 2 rounds. Norton didn’t have the mobility to get away from Foreman. Joyce gets in close and throws devastatingly powerful straight shots with both hands to the head and body.
Joyce doesn’t throw looping hooks the way many fighters do. His punches are thrown in a straight line to the target. That makes them a lot more difficult to stop because they’re coming right at you one after another. Joyce is a combination and pressure fighter, and he sets a fast pace. Joyce is all wrong for someone like Joshua, who doesn’t seem to do well at fighting at a fast pace, and isn’t used to getting hit back.
Joshua definitely isn’t accustomed to getting hit with body shots. If you were to create the worst style for Joshua to fight, it would be Joyce’s fighting style. It’s a nightmare for Joshua in my opinion. I think Joyce would destroy Joshua within 2 rounds if the two of them ever face each other. Joyce wouldn’t let Joshua get his needed rest breaks, and he wouldn’t allow him to fight on the outside like he needs for him to do well. Joshua is terrible at fighting in close. That’s why Mahai Nistor was able to blast him out in 3 rounds in their fight in 2011. Nistor kept taking the fight to the inside and pummeling Joshua.
I don’t know how Joyce is able to throw with so much power at close range. I think it might be his compact frame. He seems to be built for punching. He’s not a huge weight lifter type that built their physiques on lifting weights hour after hour, day after day. Joyce’s ability to throw to the body on the inside is likely giving Joshua nightmares, because he doesn’t get hit to the body punch in his fights. I don’t care how good Joshua is at taking head shots. When you get hit hard in the midsection, you find that you’re no better than anyone. It levels out the playing field a little bit.
”Hey Anthony Joshua, I hear you’re getting battered by big Joe Joyce. Joker can’t deal with an amateur boxer never mind the GOAT,” said Tyson Fury on his Twitter.
Fury seems to be really enjoying himself in kicking sand in the face of Joshua in letting the boxing world know that the 240 pound Joyce has been working him over in sparring. Fury is kind of letting the cat out of the bag in doing so. He’s made Joyce a big name overnight with the hardcore boxing fans.
Joyce was arguably robbed of a gold medal in the 2016 Olympics in losing to France’s Tony Yoka. A lot of boxing fans thought Joyce did enough to win that fight. I personally had Joyce easily beating Yoka. Joyce was rocking Yoka with big shots on the inside over and over again. These were punches that were snapping Yoka’s head back every which way. Yoka was forced to run around the ring to keep from getting knocked out.
By the 3rd round, Yoka looked exhausted like he was wearing down and had very little left in the tank. The body shots that Joyce was hitting Yoka with were taking everything out of him. In looking at that fight, I have no doubt that Joyce would knock Yoka out at the pro level. If this were a pro fight, I think Joyce would finish Yoka by the 5th. I think Joyce has the better pro style. Yoka is a good fighter, and he kind of reminds me of Bryant Jennings. I can see him having success as a pro, but I don’t rate him as highly as Joyce.
At 31, Joyce is going to need to be moved a lot quicker than some of the other Olympians that start out. If Joyce is brought along slowly, he’ll be in his mid-30s by the time he gets a title shot. I think it’s better to move Joyce quickly in the same way we’ve see with Olympic gold medalists Oleksandr Usyk and Vasyl Lomachenko.