Deontay Wilder’s trainer, Malik Scott, has applauded Joe Joyce for his toughness and his chin, but warned that those attributes have a time-limit, that may well be discovered if he faces Wilder.
Joyce had a fantastic 2022, emerging as a serious heavyweight world title contender by putting on a career best performance against Joseph Parker in September.
However, in an interview with iFL TV, Scott warned that it is a matter of time until his punch resistance deteriorates, if he continues to be involved in such brutal fights.
“Joe Joyce is known for his toughness and his chin. I don’t know how long that is going to last. I know one thing for sure, and that is that it does have a time-limit on it. That chin definitely has a time-limit on it.
You even have guys like Joseph Parker, who was having moments in that fight, he was hitting Joe. Bryant Jennings was having great moments in their fight, now is Joe walking through that stuff and coming right back? Absolutely.”
Scott went on to praise Joyce and warned other heavyweights that if they can’t inflict damage on him then ‘God be with them’.
“If you can’t hurt Joe Joyce, God be with you. To me, his pressure and his imposing ways are just as dangerous and lethal as Deontay’s power is. Deontay’s power is very dynamic and skilled, that’s how Joe Joyce’s presence is, that is his gift. It is his blessing that you can not train, it is God-given to be that type of way.”
The man in Wilder’s corner believes The Bronze Bomber’s power will be too much for Joyce if they do ever meet.
“If he is going to fight Deontay, it should be sometime soon. If he keeps being in these good, entertaining fights, the chin and the stubbornness will wear down, by the time you get to Deontay you are going to basically be on the menu. That’s just what I feel about punch intake, I just believe that it has a time-limit and it is cool and it’s cute for fans to say ‘yay, that guy is tough! Yeah, that guy got a chin’, but that will go away.”
‘The Juggernaut’ continues to pursue the big fights, and a battle of power versus chin, in a fight with Wilder, is a clash that many have called for.
However, at the age of thirty-seven, only time will tell if his granite chin can continue to hold up against the bigger punchers at the top of division.