Joe Joyce opted to go into an immediate rematch with Zhilei Zhang after taking a bruising loss to the Chinese heavyweight back in April and now Matchroom promoter, Eddie Hearn, has made his prediction for the fight.
The first time around, Joyce was unable to evade the solid jabs and big left hands of southpaw Zhang at the Copper Box in London. He sustained damage to his eye which slowly closed up before being called off by the doctor in the sixth round.
In a Q&A on Instagram, Hearn gave his view on how he thinks the fight on September 23 at the OVO Arena Wembley in London will go, and ultimately feels it will end the same way the second time around.
“I think Joe should wear him down but I’ve got a feeling for Zhang stoppage inside six.”
Some predict Joyce will get revenge revenge, but a second back-to-back loss for Joyce would derail any world title hopes after building successfully on his Olympic silver medal since turning pro in July 2017. Wins over Daniel Dubois and taking the WBO Interim World Heavyweight honours against Joseph Parker in September 2022 had him ranked highly but it would be a long way back after another high-profile defeat at the world level.
The 6″6′, 278-pound Zhang, who would remain the WBO interim champion should he win, will have his sights set on a mandatory world title shot against title holder Oleksandr Usyk, though he would come second in the rotation after Filip Hrgovic, the IBF’s mandatory challenger.
Either way, fight fans will finally be happy that big matches in the marquee division are beginning to get made.