British heavyweight duo Joe Joyce and Derek Chisora went to battle on Saturday night at the O2 Arena but at the combined age of 78-years-old, the loser was always going to be left with a difficult decision to make. Unfortunately for Joyce, it was he came up short and now his manager has given a huge update on his future.
Joyce seemed destined to challenge for world honours just 16 months ago, but a quartet of disheartening displays have severely derailed the progress of ‘The Juggernaut’ to the point where many believe that he may need saving from himself.
Reliant upon his formidable chin, the downfall of Joyce seems inevitable in hindsight but only once that otherworldly resilience was dented by Zhilei Zhang on two brutal back-to-back outings in 2023, which were then followed by an unconvincing points victory over Kash Ali – who pales in comparison to some of Joyce’s previous triumphs.
A third career loss against Chisora at the weekend was indeed a closer-fought encounter than the stoppage defeats to Zhang, but was even more indicative and damning. However, whether it proves to be the final nail in the coffin remains to be seen, with Joyce seeming keen to continue in his post-fight interview, although his manager, Adam Morallee, appeared less-so when speaking to Boxing Social.
“It was a very, very tough, brutal fight for both of them. I don’t think that you can complain about the scorecards – it was a very, close fight. I think that, when we looked at the scorecards, if Joe hadn’t been dropped then he would have won the fight because that is just how [tight] the scorecards were.
“It’s a difficult loss to take for Joe and we need to think about what is next for Joe, it is really, really difficult. I think it was the sixth round, the ref almost stopped the fight, he was really close to stopping it. I thought Joe just didn’t quite have enough tonight.
“I thought that Derek was superhuman in there, he was on fumes from round six/seven onwards, it was incredible. I don’t know how he stayed on his feet, Joe was not throwing the kitchen sink at him but he was hitting him a lot and couldn’t quite finish him off.
“I think that is really challenging now for Joe to find a way back to the top but in terms of his career [and possible retirement] that is a question for him. There will always be fights for Joe Joyce, there will always be fights someone who fights like that – who takes one to give one, there always will be.
“Joe is like my little brother and I want to protect him but it is tough right now and I always think that you shouldn’t make decisions like this immediately, you need to take a breath, take a step and then think about what is right. Joe has been fighting for a long time and he has done well with it, but he needs to think about the future, I agree [that he has a decision to make].”
As Morallee states, there are plenty of fights out there for Joyce – particularly due to the multitude of British talent in the division at the domestic level such as Fabio Wardley, Moses Itauma and Johnny Fisher. Yet, with the lack of defensive know-how on offer on display against Chisora, Joyce may be wise to instead opt to leave the sport before his health is impacted and the sport leaves him.
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