By Jake Tiernan: Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn gloated this week in response to Joe Joyce’s knockout loss to Zhilei Zhang last Saturday night in London.
Hearn, who promotes the fading former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, says the 2016 Olympic silver medalist Joyce’s sixth-round TKO loss to two-time Chinese Olympian Zhang (25-1-1, 20 KOs) is an indication that he’s not one of the “elite” heavyweights in the division.
Joyce’s manager Adam Morallee says they have a rematch clause in their contract for the Zhang fight and intend to use it to force a second contest.
When that happens, the training team will fix the mistakes that Joyce (15-1, 14 KOs) made and avenge the loss. Morallee points out that Joyce’s title shot won’t be delayed because the mandatory against WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk is expected to happen in December or January.
What this means is that if Joyce is going to take an interim fight, he’s going to need to do it soon, and that could be difficult, given his badly swollen right eye, which is what led to his fight with Zhang being stopped during the sixth round.
Surprisingly, Hearn views Joshua as one of the elite, despite his losing three out of his last six fights.
“He gets hit by absolutely everything, Joe Joyce. I would understand if he retired from boxing,” said Hearn to iFL TV, reflecting on Joyce’s loss to Zhang.
The reality is Joe Joyce is not an elite heavyweight. If you can’t beat Zhilei Zhang, you have absolutely no chance of winning a world heavyweight title. If he doesn’t rematch Zhang, he should retire,” said Hearn.
“Joe worked really hard for six years to get this [WBO] mandatory position to challenge for a world title. He was due for this mandatory to be called at the end of the year, and now it’s been taken away from him,” said Adam Morallee, the manager of Joe Joyce, to talkSPORT Boxing.
Joyce will use his rematch clause
“In every contract like this, there’s a bit of insurance, and we make sure there’s a rematch clause, and we do have a rematch clause, and that’s something we’ll seriously be looking at,” said Morallee about the rematch clause Joyce has for the Zhang fight.
“Whether it’s the next fight or the one after, Joe wants to get that WBO interim position back, and he wants to be a world champion.
“Whether they want to or not, with the greatest respect to them, is not the key question. They’re obliged to have it,” said Morallee when asked if Zhang’s management is interested in giving Joyce the rematch.
“So we’ll be pushing for that rematch at the appropriate time, and when we get that rematch, we’ll learn from our mistakes and go again, and we’ll get that WBO interim back.
“You can say it got derailed, or you can say something happened, and he’s got to put that wrong right. If he wins back that WBO interim from Zhang, he’s bang back in the same position; he’s not even delayed his mandatory because that’ll be happening in December or January, and effectively no harm is done.
“Joe has become a more exciting fighter. Fans want to watch his fights. Absolutely, 100%,” said Morallee when asked if he believes Joyce has what it takes to become a world champion. “Joe will tell you that wasn’t his best last Saturday night, and none of us will say that’s Joe’s best. But even at not his best, if that fight had gone twelve rounds, Joe Joyce would have won it,” Morallee said.
The Juggernaut can adapt his style
“Joe can adapt his style. We saw how he boxed Daniel Dubois, and we saw how he boxed in the Olympics. Joe gets a lot of stick from people that he can’t box well, but this is an Olympic silver medalist,” said Morallee.
“Joe can box, and it’s up to us as his team to combine all his best features – his chin, his balls, his heart and combine them in the best way possible. I thought his career-best performance against Joseph Parker. In that fight, yes, he did take some of Joseph Parker’s best punches, but he was dominant. We want to see him get back to that level.
“It depends on what you like. Some judges like activity,” said Morallee when told that one judge had Joyce up on his scorecard after five rounds. “I had Joe behind in the fight for sure, but if you go through the rounds, Joe was more active in the rounds, probably from round three onwards. So that’s probably why that judge had Joe ahead.”
