By Mark Eisner: After a slow start, unbeaten heavyweight Joe ‘Juggernaut’ Joyce (14-0, 13 KOs) destroyed journeyman replacement opponent Christian Hammer (27-9, 17 KOs), stopping him in the fourth round on Saturday night in their 12-round scheduled contest at the Wembley Arena in London.

The 34-year-old Hammer was dropped once in round three, and three more times in the fourth round before the massacre was halted by referee Victor Loughlin.

The 6’6″ Joyce did most of his damage with his attack to the body of Hammer, who couldn’t handle the shots downstairs.

In the first two rounds, Joyce repeatedly walked into big right hands from Hammer, showing no head movement, and looking VERY slow. The 2016 Olympic silver medalist Joyce’s strong punch resistance allowed him to take the massive shots from Hammer, and to continue to pressure him.

Undercard results

Former two-division world champion Zolani Tete (30-4, 23 KOs) destroyed a badly overmatched Jason Cunningham (31-7, 7 KOs) by a fourth-round knockout. The 34-year-old Tete dropped Cunningham with a left to the head in the fourth. When he got back up, Tete knocked Cunningham down for the second time with a storm of shots. Referee Howard Foster then stepped in and halted the contest. The time of the stoppage was at 0:34 of round four. Tete’s victory tonight was his second consecutive since he was obliterated in three rounds by John Riel Casimero in November 2019. Despite Tete’s advancing age, he can still punch like no tomorrow and is far too good to be matched against domestic-level opposition. While Tete isn’t on the level of any of the current champions at super bantamweight, he’s still a top contender with massive power, and well above the likes of fighters like Cunningham.
Lightweight prospect Mark Chamberlain (11-0, 7 KOs) defeated Spain’s Marc Vidal (13-3-5, 5 KOs) by a lopsided 10-round unanimous decision. The scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 100-90. There wasn’t much in the way of defense from either fighter, but Chamberlain was clearly the better of the two.
Cruiserweight prospect Tommy Fletcher (1-0, 1 KOs) got his career off to an impressive start with a first-round knockout win over Aron Vrnoga (1-1). Fletcher dropped the 22-year-old Vrnoga twice before referee Marcus McDonnell stepped in and halted the carnage. The time of the stoppage was at 0:58.
Junior middleweight prospect Micky Burke (7-0, 3 KOs) pounded out a six-round points decision over 36-year-old journeyman Serge Ombomo (7-32-3, 3 KOs). The score was 60-54.
Unbeaten light-welterweight prospect Henry Turner (8-0, 1 KOs) defeated journeyman Jakub Laskowski (4-17-1, 2 KOs) by a 60-54 points decision.

The 2016 Olympic silver medalist Joyce had planned on fighting Joseph Parker, but that match couldn’t be made. Hence, the 34-year-old veteran Hammer has been brought in to give the ‘Juggernaut’ some rounds.

“You can expect good things. He’s game and looks like he’s hungry, and I think it’s going to be a tough fight,” Joe Joyce said to Behind The Gloves about his 12-round stay-busy match tonight against 34-year-old journeyman Christian Hammer.

“He’s durable, and he throws bombs,” Joyce continued about Hammer. “Let’s see if he can live with me over the rounds. Yeah, to try and get him out of there sooner than other people will be a bonus.

“But as he said, he’s had a training camp, so it’s going to be tough, and it’s heavyweight boxing. I need to be careful. I’ve got myself in a good position, and I want to keep it.

“I’m disappointed, and I think the fans are as well, and everyone who is going to tune in to watch it. It’s such a big event that would happen, but it’s just unfortunate. It happens in boxing,” said Joyce when asked about his thoughts on his previously planned fight against former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker falling through.

“I’ve got myself in a good position. I’m #1 with the WBO and #2 WBC, so there are plenty of good fights out there for me. I’m coming off an injury, and I’ve rehabbed all that.

“I’ve been out in Vegas and done three camps in Vegas with [Ismael] Salas, so I’ve been improving and adding more weapons to my arsenal. I’m in a good place and have a warmup fight with Hammer.

“I’m not overlooking him because he’ll be a tough night’s work, I think. Quack-quack, him and his team,” said Joyce when asked if Parker is ducking him.

“He needs to fight me; I don’t need to fight him,” ‘The Juggernaut’ said about Parker. “I’m at the level where I can fight these guys,” said Joyce about his comments in reaction to Anthony Joshua in leaked sparring from years ago.

“With the AJ thing, the footage was leaked of sparring, and he’s saying he’ll beat me in a round and stuff like that. So, I got to fight back and give my opinion,” said Joyce.

Highly ranked heavyweight contender Joe ‘Juggernaut’ Joyce (13-0, 12 KOs) will be returning to the ring after a one-year layoff tonight against the capable Christian Hammer (27-9, 17 KOs) in the 12-round main event at the Wembley Arena in London.