Joe Joyce predicts he’ll score a knockout over the war horse Derek Chisora this Saturday night in their headliner at the O2 Arena in London.
The ‘Juggernaut’ Joyce (16-2, 15 KOs) wants to impress with a knockout of Chisora (34-13, 23 KOs) to set himself up for a bigger fight, potentially a world title. It would be Joyce’s second consecutive victory after losing twice to Zhilei Zhang by knockout in 2023.
Joyce, 38, says Chisora avoided him in the past when he wanted to fight him, and he feels he had his reasons for not wanting to face him until now.
Chisora’s numerous losses in the last four years have put him in a bad spot where he couldn’t afford to turn down a main-event fight against Joyce, even though it’s not a good matchup.
Joyce seemed on edge during an interview today, looking irritable. Things haven’t worked out with his career lately, suffering the two defeats to Zhang and then watching one of his former knockout victims, Daniel Dubois, capture the IBF heavyweight title. He’s now getting a huge payday defending against Anthony Joshua.
It must be upsetting for Joyce to watch other fighters progress while he’s facing the 40-year-old Chisora.
That’s why Joyce must do quick work of Chisora to make a statement and hurry to a fight against one of the top 10 heavyweights so that he can get put in a position to challenge for a world title or fight on one of His Excellenacy Turki Alalshikh’s cards in Riyadh.
“Derek always brings it and gives his best. I know he’ll be coming for me, working on them shots, but I’ve been working on some things too,” said Joe Joyce to Boxnation, talking about his fight this Saturday night at the O2 Arena.
Chisora will be on the attack the entire fight, looking to score a knockout with one of his looping punches, which often land to the back of his opponent’s heads. He’s going to get his pound of flesh in this fight before it’s over, and it could be interesting to see if Joyce can hold up to the heavy shots from ‘War’ Chisora.
“He’s guessing. He’ll try,” said Joyce, reacting to being told that Chisora predicts a first-round knockout. “I believe I’ll stop him. I’m not sure when because he’s got a tough character. He’ll probably weather the storm for a bit, and then I’ll take him out whenever I see the opportunity.”
If Joyce’s punch resistance has been impaired from his two knockout defeats against Zhilei Zhang in 2023, Chisora has the power to take advantage of that. It would be wise for Joyce to get Chisora out of there as fast as possible to avoid him landing anything big.
“I’ll just see what he brings to the table, but I know what I got,” said Joyce about Chisora. “When it comes to fight night, you’ll see an exciting fight. Me and Chisora will make a great fight, and it’s one not to be missed. I’m the Juggernaut, so he’s going to find out why he’s been avoiding me.”
Chisora is still as powerful as ever, but what’s missing is his speed. He’s never been fast, but he’s slowed down in the last five years and it’s easier for his opponents to spot his punches coming. Moreover, Chisora doesn’t get out of the way of punches as well as he used to, and his Joe Frazier style of eluding shots doesn’t work anymore.
“There’s other fights I’m not going to worry about yet, but this will definitely set me up. I’m here to stop him in his tracks. I’m still a threat. I’m still alive, and I still feel like I’m in my prime. I got plenty more to give the sport. I got in late,” said Joyce.
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