By Brian Webber: Joe Joyce doesn’t intend on using his normal straight-ahead ‘Juggernaut’ style of fighting against Zhilei Zhang this Saturday night because he understands the threat the mighty two-time Chinese Olympian poses for their main event clash at the Copper Box Arena in London.
Joyce (15-0, 14 KOs) will have his WBO interim heavyweight title on the line, and there’s a lot more than that at stake for him.
Joe’s career will effectively be on the line in this fight if he gets beaten by the 6’6″ Zhang (24-1, 19 KOs), he can forget about a guaranteed title shot against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk, and he might be too old to come back from the loss.
Getting a knockout and looking impressive is important for the 37-year-old Joyce, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to take chances that he can walk into something big.
In Joyce’s last fight against Joseph Parker, he took some hellacious shots that would have knocked out most heavyweights. Zhang hits harder than Parker, and it wouldn’t be a good idea for Joyce to get hit with the same type of punches on Saturday.
Joe wants to fight carefully in the early going and then put his foot on the gas pedal and go the knockout when Zhang tires in the second half. Zhang faded in his fights against Jerry Forrest and Filip Hrgovic, and it’s a good bet that he’ll do the same against Joyce if pressured enough.
Joyce respects Zhang’s power
“I respect Zhang’s power, and I won’t be going in there recklessly. He’s a southpaw, too. That’s more of a tricky style than what I’m used to,” said Joyce. “The last Southpaw I fought was Lenroy Thomas in my fourth fight.”
“After beating someone so conclusively, and then I’m in the back of the queue for the mandatory title shot. What more do I have to do?” said Joe Joyce to Secondsout, discussing how Daniel Dubois, a fighter he beat, is getting a title shot in the summer against IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
“I’m in a big fight here, and then it keeps me sharp. Things haven’t always gone my way throughout my whole career, so things haven’t always gone my way,” Joyce continued. “I just have to keep doing what I can and knock out who I need to knock out and beat who I need to beat.
“He’s always got a puncher’s chance because he’s strong and he’s heavy-handed and hits hard,” said Joyce when asked if Daniel Dubois has a chance against Usyk. “If he’s not able to hit Usyk, then Usyk will dance around and pepper him with shots like he did against Joshua. I see Usyk beating Dubois.
“It is an option. Obviously, I want to fight someone with a title first,” said Joyce when asked if he’d like to fight Anthony Joshua this year if he can’t get a title shot. “I don’t like always talking about Joshua. He only mentions me. He didn’t look great in his last performance [against Jermaine Franklin].
“I’d like to see him against Dillian Whyte, which I think happens, and then maybe I could have that fight. I’m looking for the titles first because he’s already been a two-time heavyweight champion, and I’ve yet to be concretely. I’ve got the WBO interim title. I need the full title and maybe the rest of them,” said Joyce.
“I’ve learned a lot more since then, and I’ve come a long way,” said Joyce when asked about the sparring he did with Joshua years ago. “The sparring at GB weren’t one-sided. They were competitive all the time.
“I used to enjoy sparring Joshua because we could both go toe-to-toe in the center of the ring and trade punches. I don’t want to talk about him anymore,” said an irritated-looking Joyce, letting the interviewer know that he’s done answering questions about Anthony Joshua.
