Derek Chisora got heavyweight Joe Joyce riled up during their face-to-face interview ahead of their twelve-round clash eight days from now on July 27th at the O2 Arena in London. Their fight will be shown live on ESPN+ in the afternoon hours in the U.S.
Chisora (34-13, 23 KOs) let Joyce (16-2, 15 KOs) know what he thought of his team, labeling them in not too flattering terms. Joyce looked ready to tear the 40-year-old Chisora apart on the spot because he’s not accustomed to one of his opponents having a go.
“That won’t matter when I punch you in the head,” said Joe Joyce to Queensberry, reacting to Dereck Chisora bad-mouthing his team.
Chisora is coming off an 11-month layoff since his twelve-round unanimous decision win over journeyman Gerald Washington on August 12, 2023. Although Chisora won that fight against the 41-year-old Washington, he was not remotely impressive in the contest.
Chisora’s speed has suffered greatly in the last three years, and he looks much slower than he did in his narrow defeat against Oleksandr Usyk in October 2020. Joe Joyce also lacks speed, but he’s enormous, fights like a locomotive, and still has power in his punches.
Many boxing fans want to see Chisora retire from the sport. They note his slowed speech and worry about his physical health after the many wars during his 17-year career. The rare successes Chisora enjoyed years ago have ended.
Now, he takes beatings when he faces quality opposition, resembling a punching bag. Tyson Fury threw Chisora a bone in December 2022, giving him an undeserved world title shot despite losing three out of his last four fights. Predictably, the fight ended badly for Chisora, with Fury knocking him out in the tenth round.
Chisora will have trouble keeping Joyce off him to keep from getting pounded into dust on July 27th. If Chisora loses this fight, it will be his fifth defeat in his last eight fights since 2020 and surely signal the end of his career.
Interestingly, Chisora is still being given main-event gigs in the UK because that wouldn’t happen if he fought in the U.S., where you got to produce results to fight in headliners.
Joyce, 38, snapped a two-fight losing streak last March, knocking out domestic heavyweight Kash Ali in the tenth round in Birmingham. ‘The Juggernaut’ had lost his two previous fights by knockout against Zhilei Zhang, and many fans gave up on him after the second loss.
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