Joe Joyce and Deontay Wilder dust themselves off and go again in 2025

It wasn’t that long ago that a fight between Joe Joyce and Deontay Wilder was presented as the definitive example of an immovable object meets an irresistible force. Back then, the expectation among boxing fans was that Joyce would one day represent the true test of Wilder’s power and that Wilder would one day represent the true test of Joyce’s durability. It was a fight plenty wanted to see and a fight that carried no small amount of mystery and intrigue. 

Now, though, as we enter 2025, all questions have been answered regarding both Joyce and Wilder and their paths never even had to cross. Now, thanks to the work of Zhilei Zhang and others, we know the limitations of the two aforementioned heavyweights and we know, moreover, just where they stand at this juncture in their respective careers. 

Close to 40, the pair of them, there is every chance that this year will be their last in the sport. There is every chance, too, that this will be the most dangerous year for Joyce and Wilder, if only because they have shown certain vulnerabilities of late which would suggest they have entered the territory of prey. No longer feared, Joyce and Wilder have instead become names up-and-coming heavyweights will presumably target in order to enhance their own reputation and confidence. 

Their roles have changed, in other words, and within these new roles they will have to find humility. They will also continue getting paid, which is reason enough to suck it up and go again, as both aim to do in the coming months: Joyce’s next fight takes place on March 1 in Bournemouth, England, it was announced yesterday, while Wilder will apparently make his return to the ring in April. 

The Joyce slide, although hardly a shock, was startling on account of its swiftness. One minute he was emphatically beating Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker – two men who fight for the IBF heavyweight title in February – and the next Joyce was getting stopped not once but twice by Zhilei Zhang and, worse, outworked by a 40-year-old Derek Chisora. Suddenly Joyce looked his age. Suddenly punches he once shook off had a noticeable impact on both his legs and the light in his eyes. 

It remains to be seen whether the “Juggernaut” can now have a last hurrah, but so far the signs would indicate it is unlikely. His only win since beating Joseph Parker in September 2022 is a 10-round stoppage of Kash Ali and he has, in total, lost three of his last four fights. Added to this Joyce will turn 40 in September and, truth be told, has been fighting like a man of 40 for some time. His style, in fact, is hardly conducive to longevity, not when one considers how many punches he has already taken in his 19-bout pro career. Each of those punches, although often returned with interest, will have registered and taken something away from both Joyce’s resistance and his ability to defy logic. 

It is for that reason this next fight in March is so important. Regardless of the opponent they choose, Joyce, 16-3 (15), really needs to show something in Bournemouth and he needs to ease the concerns of those who believe he should be nowhere near a ring at this stage in his life. It would of course be too much to expect a man like Joyce to change his style at 39, but at the very least there needs to be a sign that he has more to offer and is able to now accept his limitations and protect himself from predators. 

That could simply mean knowing his place in the heavyweight pecking order and keeping his ambitions in check. Yet one could also argue that the fight against Chisora in July was an example of this and that Joyce’s inability to win that fight should have been the indication that his days as a notable heavyweight contender were over.

As for Wilder, there will, by virtue of his name, still be big opportunities out there, financially speaking, and any attempted drive towards them will be fuelled solely by the adage that the last thing a fighter loses is their punch. That, whether true or not, should be enough to prolong the American’s delusion and ensure he is the last one to believe that a change in fortune is possible in 2025. 

The rest of us, meanwhile, will continue to watch his fights through our hands. We will remind ourselves that he has lost four of his last five – with three of those defeats coming inside the distance – and that he, like Joyce, turns 40 this year. His power, which remains considerable, is still capable of ending fights Wilder is losing, but one thing it cannot do is turn back time. Nor for that matter can Wilder’s power return to him all he has lost in terms of both momentum and intimidation. Now, you see, opponents enter the ring with Wilder and know not only how to survive and beat him, but also expect these things to happen. Joseph Parker, for instance, had no issue going about his business and avoiding the Wilder right hand when they met in 2023, despite so many predicting his demise. Similarly, Zhilei Zhang approached his fight with Wilder last June with almost contempt, buoyed no doubt by Parker’s success and of the belief that he would go one better and stop Wilder – which he did. 

At the end of that Zhang fight Wilder cut a sorry, forlorn figure, and we wondered whether we would ever see him in the ring again. He will, as the fighter, be the first to sense his own deterioration, even if the last to admit it, and he will be just as aware of his motives for now continuing. Wilder, after all, is not a man oblivious to boxing’s dangers. Indeed, as boxing’s scariest puncher for over a decade, he has seen the devastation and damage he has inflicted on other men and knows that the same can always be done to him, especially at a time when he has never been as vulnerable or targeted. 

Not only that, it was Wilder, remember, who spoke so emotionally about the tragic tale of Prichard Colon in the aftermath of his frightening one-punch knockout of Robert Helenius in 2022. “I always have concern for all fighters,” he said that night. “This is not a sport. A sport is something you play. You don’t play this. We risk our lives for you guys’ entertainment. 

“We’ve seen what happened. Look at Colon. This man doesn’t have any kids. You don’t understand what we go through. I don’t even know him like that, but I’ll always be an advocate for us. This man will never know what it feels like to be somebody’s father. That’s the most precious thing in the world, to be somebody’s father. He will never have a chance of living again because he got in the ring to support his family. Now his family have to take care of him for the rest of his life.”

Since he expressed his compassion and concern on a public stage, Wilder, 43-3-1 (42), has not won another fight. Some might even argue that he should have gone out on that Helenius win, for he clearly lost something that night as well.