Joe Joyce suffered a second consecutive defeat to Zhilei Zhang at Wembley Arena on Saturday September 23 and one fellow heavyweight hasn’t pulled any punches in his review of Joyce’s performance.
Joyce put on almost 25 lbs in weight since their first bout which was stopped by the referee due to his closed eye. In this immediate rematch, Joyce came out cautiously, fencing with his lead hand and moving away from the southpaw left cross.
Zhang retained his WBO mandatory challenger status with the victory which came even quicker than his win the first time round.
Speaking to IFL TV, Derek Chisora was critical of Joyce.
“All Joyce did was put on weight, that’s the only change he made. I don’t know what the f**k he was doing in there.”
When asked if he was disappointed with Joyce, Chisora agreed.
“Yeh, I don’t know what style that was. Zhang just waited for him, lured him in.”
Chisora then revealed he wants to fight the big Chinese man himself.
“It’ll be a long night but I’ll beat Zhang. I like southpaws. Joe should fight [Daniel] Dubois. Great fight.”
Though he is already 40, Zhang has very much put himself in the mix with the world’s top few heavyweights with this victory. In the ring afterwards, he was quick to call out Tyson Fury, while for Joyce it is a long way back.
