Joe Joyce can't reinvent himself but deserves one last shot vs Deontay Wilder

15 March 2024 , 13:14

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Joe Joyce is preparing for one last stab at the big show (Image: PA)

Joe Joyce is preparing for one last stab at the big show. He wants Deontay Wilder. Who can blame him? Wilder is nowhere near the fighter he was.

Kash Ali won’t test him on Saturday night, that’s for sure. And that’s the point. After two successive defeats to Zhilei Zhang, this is about building him up for the last dance. But not against Zhang. He turns 39 this year. When you fight in a one-dimensional, come-forward style without lights out power, it’s a problem higher up the food chain.

Joyce is a lovely guy. He has great stamina and a good chin, but he was exposed when he hit the great wall of China. I fought the way Joyce does. He is just a bigger version of me except, pound for pound, he does not hit as hard as I did.

Zhang did not train properly for the fight he lost to Joseph Parker last week. He probably needed another month of intense training to get his weight down by at least a stone.

He would have beaten Parker had he done that, but he can come back. I don’t think Joyce can at the very highest level.

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Were he persuaded to take on Zhang again after that defeat to Parker, I don’t think the result would be any different. Sadly Joyce can’t reinvent himself at this stage. If he had started boxing in his teens instead of 22, it might have been a different story.

With that size, reach and physicality there is so much potential providing you use the fundamentals as a kid and learn how to box as well as fight. He was 31 when he turned pro. Had he been able to snap that jab, pile-drive the right hand, come back with a sweeping left hook, he might have gone to the very top.

Joyce has suffered two successive defeats to Zhilei Zhang (PA)

What success he has had is based on endurance, strength and hard work. He is a big lump and hard to shift up to a point. That is not to condemn him. Simply to point out he has reached his level.

But heh, winning Olympic silver is a fantastic achievement, and beating Daniel Dubois was a feather in his cap.

He does not lack for heart or ambition. The goal now is to get a couple of easy wins then throw him a bone against one of the big boys. Should that be Parker or Wilder, happy days, a chance to go out on a high.

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Barry McGuigan