By Mark Eisner: Joe Joyce (11-0, 10 KOs) cleared the way for the mouth-watering fight against Daniel Dubois by stopping German heavyweight Michael Wallisch (20-4, 13 KOs) in the third round on Saturday night at the BT Sport Studio, Stratford.
Wallisch looked like the better fighter in round one, nailing the upright 6’6″ Joyce repeatedly with right hands to the head. Joyce had no defense for his shot that Wallisch was catching him with that had him looking confused. Some of the punches that Wallisch landed on Joyce in the round drove him back from the impact, and it was embarrassing to watch at times,
With Joyce’s #11 WBC ranking, he didn’t fight like he rated that position tonight. He looked more like a big journeyman level fighter with no speed. Joyce’s power seemed okay, but his lack of hand speed kept him from landing harder shots. If Joyce had the rate that matched his power, he’d likely have knocked Wallisch out in the first round.
Wallisch was fighting on fumes by round three
Joyce 34, dropped Wallisch with a hard body shot that put him on his knees in round three. Referee Ian John-Lewis then stepped in and halted the fight. The 34-year-old Wallisch had already been down earlier in the third from a left hook to the head by Joyce. The fight was stopped at 0:57.
Wallisch was also down in round two after getting hit with a series of hard blows from the 270-pound Joyce.
There is a lot to criticize from the performance by the 6’6′ 2016 Olympic silver medalist Joyce. First off, Joyce looked very slow with his punches. His hand speed has always been slower than average, but tonight, Joyce fought like he was in slow-motion the entire fight.
That’s troubling because he’s only 35, and he shouldn’t be losing what little speed he has so rapidly. If this had been Dubois inside the ring tonight with Joyce, he surely would have taken full advantage of his lack of speed.
Wallisch, who isn’t fast either, had the superior hand speed tonight against the glacially slow Joyce, and he was taking advantage of it at times in the opening round.
Also, Joyce was getting hit a lot by Wallisch in the first round with right-hands. It seemed like Wallisch couldn’t miss with that shot, and Joyce helped his accuracy by failing to block any of his punches.
Joyce got hit a lot tonight
Whatever Wallisch threw in the fight, he landed. It was fortunate for Joyce that Wallisch wasn’t the biggest puncher because if he had more power, he would have been a problem.
The jabs that Joyce was throwing were too slow to be effective against the German fighter, who was able to dodge many of them. This forced Joyce to give up his height and fight at close to medium range, which suited Wallisch.
On the positive side, Joyce’s work rate was excellent, as was his power too. After a slow start in round one, Joyce went after Wallisch in round two and started throwing a lot more punches.
Towards the end of the round, Joyce trapped Wallisch against the ropes and knocked him down after landing a four-punch combination.
With Joyce’s win tonight, he’ll be watching what daniel Dubois (14-0 13 KOs) does in his fight next month against prospect Erik Pfeifer (7-0, 5KO’s) on August 29 at the BT Sport Studio, Stratford.
Dubois must be considered the favorite over Joyce after tonight’s performance. Joyce is too slow, and he’s going to have a lot of problems if he can’t fix this issue by October. If nothing else, Joyce needs to keep his hands up so that he can block the right hands that Dubois will be throwing at him.
If the 22-year-old Dubois beats the 33-year-old Pfeifer, which would seem to be a certainty at this point, then he’ll meet up with Joyce on October 24 in the headliner at the O2 in London, England.
Joyce not interested in fighting Dubois behind closed doors
“Pfeifer is good,” said Joyce in a recent interview with IFL TV. “He’s very seasoned. He’s done WBS, so I’ll be interested to see how that pans out,” Joyce said of Dubois’ fight against Pfeifer. “I’m sure Daniel will get the job done, but it’ll be a tough fight. We hope.
“It would be dead, and it wouldn’t be worth it,” said Joyce when asked about his thoughts on fighting Dubois without fans. “We might as well postpone it again. It’s one of those fights that you want to say that you’ve been there because it’s such a big fight.
“You don’t want to, ‘Oh, I watched it on TV.’ You want to, ‘Yeah, I was there. It was sick.’ You have the sweat, the blood spraying off in the crowd, and people are just back from the bar and the fights in the group.
“You know, the proper boxing event. ‘Which fight are we watching? I wonder what they’re going to do?
“Hopefully, it’s going to be good and looked after. I think there are fewer cases. I don’t think there’s cases in London. There are a few out in London, but we’re kind of getting through it now. I would hope.
Dubois has sparred The Juggernaut before
“I’ve felt his punches before, even though he was young,” said Joyce about him sparring with Dubois years ago. “Yeah, I sparred him, so I know he’s got the power, and it’s going to be a very risky few rounds, and it’s going to be exciting to watch.
I might have to get off the floor, but preferably not. Preferably I’ve learned enough to slip and move out of the way of his punches and start troubling him with my own. I don’t think he’s going to like my punches with the pro gloves in his face.
“Yeah, because you saw him troubled by Richard Lartey with his red eyes just straight off the flight. You never know with heavyweight boxing, and that’s why it’s going to be so exciting.
“Get these fights out of the way, both of us, and then get it on in October. I hope so,” said Joyce when asked if he wants to stop Dubois. “And I don’t want to do any overtime. I doubt it’s going to go to points over 12 rounds,” said Joyce.