Joe Joyce must look good on Saturday night against Derek Chisora to put himself back in the mix with the division’s top heavyweights.
For Joyce, it’s a lose-lose fight against the 40-year-old Chisora, who many fans feel shouldn’t be permitted to fight due to his numerous defeats in his last six fights. He’s lost four fights since 2020, and he looks well past his prime. Sadly, he’s still given prime headliner slots, which shouldn’t be that way.
Joyce (16-2, 15 KOs) and Chisora (34-13, 23 KOs) will fight in a twelve-round bout on July 27th. The fight will be shown in an event on ESPN+ at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 PT.
There’s a lot of interest from British fans in the Joyce-Chisora fight but not so much from the U.S boxing public. Both guys aren’t considered relevant, and neither is going anywhere. The winner of the fight will have very little chance of getting a world title shot.
Joyce’s Internal Struggles
“Joe has been working with a sports psychologist and I like the sound of that because he does need to get a bit of spite in his system for his opponents,” said analyst Gareth A. Davies to Boxing King Media about Joe Joyce.
Joyce has seemed irritable during the build-up to his fight with Chisora, and it seems like he’s not a happy camper for this fight. If Joyce is seeing a sports psychologist to get a little more fire in him, that might explain his behavior. However, I don’t know if that’s the answer to his problems.
“I do see Joe as the favorite. I don’t see why people think Derek is going to beat him. I don’t know if he should be fighting, but that’s not my place to say that,” said Gareth about Chisora. Derek had a very good fight with Usyk for at least six rounds.
“Points or late stoppage, but I lean towards late stoppage,” said Gareth, describing how he sees Joyce defeating Chisora. “He’s [Joyce] not going to change his style at 38 years of age. He’s got to block and be evasive and get his timing right against Derek, who is a very tricky opponent if he’s in the mood.”
Chisora can win by knockout, especially if Joyce’s chin isn’t the same after his two knockout losses to Zhilei Zhang. That’s what a lot of boxing fans believe. Joyce didn’t get knocked out in his last fight against Kash Ali, but he looked cautious, and nowhere near the same fighter he’d been before his two defeats against Zhang.
A Lose-Lose Situation for Joyce
“It is an upset,” said Gareth when asked if it’s an upset if Chisora wins. “It’s a lose-lose for Joyce, this fight. I expect him to win handily. I think he’ll get to Derek eventually, but Joe is 39 in September. Derek is already 40.”
It’s a bad look that Joyce is being given this level of an opponent after his confidence-builder match against Kash. It was understandable for Joyce to be given one easy fight, but not two in a row against the same type of fighter. This type of opponent won’t help Joyce get ready for the better fighters in the division that he hopes to face in 2025.
“I know people groaned when this fight was first announced, but there’s jeopardy here for Joe Joyce. If he wants to get back in the big time. There’s a lot on the line for Joe Joyce and the optics have to look good for him because he labored against Kash Ali after his two losses to Zhilei Zhang,” said Gareth.
If Joyce doesn’t look good against Chisora, it would be bad for his mental health and his popularity. He needs to obliterate Chisora to be given any credit from fans.
Read the full article here
