Heavyweights Derek Chisora and Joe Joyce meet this Saturday night, July 27, in a twelve-round contest at the O2 Arena in London. The aging fighters are in a position where it will be difficult for the loser of the match to come back from the loss. The event will be shown live on ESPN+ in the U.S. in the afternoon this Saturday.
The 40-year-old Chisora (34-13, 23 KOs) comes into the fight with a 2-4 record in his last six fights and has looked dreadfully poor since 2020.
If Joyce has anything left of his physical skills, he should make easy work of Chisora on Saturday night, but it still won’t be a pretty fight to watch.
Joyce (16-2, 15 KOs) turns 39 in September and has lost two out of his last three fights. Never fast, to begin with, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist Joyce has visibly slowed since 2022 and is clearly near the end of his career.
Zhilei Zhang knocked out Joyce twice in 2023, ending his hopes of fighting for a world title. Joyce came back from those defeats to stop British domestic-level fighter Kash Ali in the tenth round last March, but he didn’t look good.
The Juggernaut Joyce looked slower than ever and struggled to beat a fighter that the top heavyweights would have starched in 30 seconds of the first round.
“One of them is going to win, and one of them is going to lose. It ain’t going to be a draw. It’s not going to go the distance. One is going to be standing there, and one is not,” said promoter Frank Warren to BoxNation about this Saturday’s matchup between Joe Joyce and Derek Chisora at the O2 Arena.
It wouldn’t be a total shock if Chisora wins, but only because Joyce has looked so physically bad in his last three fights. I still think Joyce wins because he looks and sounds shot. Surprisingly, Chisora is still getting headliner gigs in the UK because the fans aren’t getting their money’s worth with his recent performance.
“The one who is not, I don’t know where he goes. The age that they’re at, they’re going to have a real tough journey back. So they know what’s at stake,” said Warren about the Joyce vs. Chisora fight.
“I’m the one who said a couple of years ago that Derek should retire, and he took issue with me, and he wants to prove me wrong. So that gives him a bit more inspiration, and we’ll see.”
Chisora should have retired after his loss to Oleksandr Usyk because that was his last semi-decent performance. He took many shots from Usyk in that match and has looked washed up in his five fights since, losing three. Whatever Chisora had left, Usyk took it from him and he’s been awful ever since.
Chisora was given a questionable decision against Kubrat Pulev in July 2022. If you count that as a loss, he’s been beaten in four out of his last five fights.
“It is what it is. The fight is one. It’s a fight that we tried to make a few years ago without success, but we got it together now,” said Warren. “I think, in some ways, the fight will be more keenly fought because there’s more at stake now because of their age and where they are now in their careers.”
Chisora and Joyce know they can’t afford to lose this fight. If Chisora wants to continue to be given main event slots in the UK, he must win because British fans want him to retire because he looks and sounds he doesn’t belong in a ring.
“They both need to make a statement, and the undercard if fabulous. Great fights on the undercard,” said Warren.
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