Tony Bellew has weighed in on Joe Joyce’s recent loss to Zhilei Zhang, and described the decision to fight the dangerous Chinese southpaw as “greedy.”
Against the odds and on away territory, Zhang put in a career best performance at the Copper Box, comprehensively outboxing and stopping Joyce in six rounds, damaging ‘The Juggernaut’s eye to the point where he was no longer fit to continue.
Speaking to IFL TV about the fight, Bellew seemed baffled by the decision from Joyce’s team to fight Zhang.
“I just think it was a little bit greedy taking that fight. When you’re on the verge of a world title and you’re the mandatory, you just go, “you know what, we’re either going to sit and wait or have an easier fight – we don’t need to face this monster.” ”
“He went to the nail with Filip Hrgovic. I’m not saying he beat Hrgovic, but it was a really close, hard fight. So why do you need to face him?”
“Because he’s got the defeat to Hrgovic, you’ve got nothing to gain and everything to lose. And so it played out for Joe Joyce.”
Joyce lost the WBO interim world title to ‘Big Bang,’ meaning he will have to rematch him in order to reclaim his spot in the queue for a shot at unified world champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The Brit seemed to be in two minds about activating a contractual rematch clause in his post fight interview, however reports now seem to suggest he will sign for another crack at Zhang, who has also been linked to a summer showdown with WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.