Zhang Stops Joyce / Round 3 Knockout

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers of America (BWAA)

Joe Joyce got his second chance at Zhilei Zhang and hoped that he could reverse his previous knock out defeat.   In their first match in April, Zhang dominated Joyce as he connected on 45 percent of his punches and Joyce simply couldn’t compete with Zhang power nor was, he accurate his punches.

The rematch started slowing as Joyce threw jabs and neither fighter did much and between the two, only five punches total landed, but the second round, Zhang did what he did the last time, landed accurate power shots as he landed 36 punches versus 12 punches for Joyce and most of those shots were power shots.  Joyce was stopped in the third round, and he lasted only half as long as the first fight.

Joyce came in the fight 26 pounds heavier and if this was a strategy to add weight to be able to take Zhang power shots, it was a complete failure.  He didn’t add any strength, and this was the heaviest he ever fought.  Zhang was simply too strong for Joyce.  The punches show the story as Zhang connected on more than double the punches and 77 percent of those punches were power shots.

The question is where Joyce goes as he is already 38 years old, and these two losses put him in a bad position.  Before Zhang, Joyce was looked at a coming star and this was highly anticipated rematch with many British fans were hoping Joyce come back but he didn’t.

Zhang is 40 years old and now the question with only one loss, what about Zhang?  Zhang wants his shot at Fury and at his age, there are not too many opportunities left.   It would be interesting to see him match up against Wilder or Joshua.  Wilder and Zhang would be a slugfest and Zhang will be 60 pounds heavier than Wilder. Joshua is a boxer who can stay away from Zhang, but could Zhang finally catch him? 

Zhang is intriguing since at the golden age of 40, he has shown the ability to knock out people and often over the past few years, he was the older fighter in the ring.    Zhang may be in line for a mandatory spot to face Usyk and mention in an interview that he was close to signing a fight with Fury but didn’t transpire since Joe Joyce activated his rematch clause but as he noted, there no barriers to a Fury fight.   Can Zhang find one more big fight?

One thought on “Zhang Stops Joyce / Round 3 Knockout

  1. That’s the interesting question. At 40 can he pull off a big one vs AJ or Wilder? He deserves a big money opportunity for sure.

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