[Dynamito]

Joe Joyce vs Zhilei Zhang announced for April 15th.

Fair play to Joyce its a fight he did not need to take. And presents a serious risk. Zhang can bang and Joyce Loves to defend punches with his face.

Interesting to see how this plays out. This is potentially the last hurdle for Joyce before he fights Fury in the Summer.

 

[Philly Shell]

A decent matchup and I am keen for it. But...

1/ What state is boxing in when interim titles are being defended? No, it's not the first time it's been done and sadly it won't be the last. But interim titles are for when a reigning champion is unable to defend their title due to injury and once someone has attained the interim title they are meant to fight the reigning champion upon his resumption. Simply creating another title out of an interim title is bullshit.

2/ How does a loss last fight qualify a fighter to be the challenger for a title? Yes, that's happened before too but that doesn't mean it's not bullshit.

 

[Dynamito]

A decent matchup and I am keen for it. But...

1/ What state is boxing in when interim titles are being defended? No, it's not the first time it's been done and sadly it won't be the last. But interim titles are for when a reigning champion is unable to defend their title due to injury and once someone has attained the interim title they are meant to fight the reigning champion upon his resumption. Simply creating another title out of an interim title is bullshit.

2/ How does a loss last fight qualify a fighter to be the challenger for a title? Yes, that's happened before too but that doesn't mean it's not bullshit.

I gave up worrying about this nonsense over 30 years ago. Firstly the WBC at that time introduced something called an international title. Which was similar to the interim titles these days confusing the public.
Then the British Promoters decided to give credence to the WBO, and younger fans might not know this but the WBO was as lightly regarded as the IBO is today. Neither the fans or the Boxing Press gave much recognition to it.

In Britain even with the 3 other belts British fighters hardly ever won world titles. So the Promoters here went with the WBO and suddenly at the dawn of the 1990's we had World Champs left right and centre.

A few years down the line even the WBO became too hard for British fighters. So Promoters here recognised the WBU title. This WBU was Started by some guy at his kitchen table. I think Ricky Hatton is the greatest ever WBU champ. That organisation split into to two groups and has more or less disappeared.

And we also had the WBF title. It is still going and Johnny Nelson for a brief period in history was the WBF heavyweight Champion of the World.

With out the WBO title, guys like Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn would never have become British legends. And Ironically the best British Middleweight of that generation who was avoided by both of them that is Herol Graham. Has by and large been forgotten. Only remembered the Boxing Nerds from that era.

 

[biglads]

With out the WBO title, guys like Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn would never have become British legends. And Ironically the best British Middleweight of that generation who was avoided by both of them that is Herol Graham. Has by and large been forgotten. Only remembered the Boxing Nerds from that era.

Poor Bomber had a bit of a rough ride, razor thin defeats to Kalambay and McCallum plus getting banjoed by Julian Jackson when Herol was beating the snot out of him and going for the stoppage. I might be remembering wrongly but I think he was the mandatory contender for one of the belts (WBA?) when Hagler decided to fight Leonard. Looking at the problems an aging Hagler had with Ray it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that Herol would have handily outpointed Hagler if they had met at that time.

 

[SimonTemplar]

I gave up worrying about this nonsense over 30 years ago. Firstly the WBC at that time introduced something called an international title. Which was similar to the interim titles these days confusing the public.
Then the British Promoters decided to give credence to the WBO, and younger fans might not know this but the WBO was as lightly regarded as the IBO is today. Neither the fans or the Boxing Press gave much recognition to it.

In Britain even with the 3 other belts British fighters hardly ever won world titles. So the Promoters here went with the WBO and suddenly at the dawn of the 1990's we had World Champs left right and centre.

A few years down the line even the WBO became too hard for British fighters. So Promoters here recognised the WBU title. This WBU was Started by some guy at his kitchen table. I think Ricky Hatton is the greatest ever WBU champ. That organisation split into to two groups and has more or less disappeared.

And we also had the WBF title. It is still going and Johnny Nelson for a brief period in history was the WBF heavyweight Champion of the World.

With out the WBO title, guys like Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn would never have become British legends. And Ironically the best British Middleweight of that generation who was avoided by both of them that is Herol Graham. Has by and large been forgotten. Only remembered the Boxing Nerds from that era.

I fondly remember Audley constantly talking up the WBF as a proper sanctioning body. Ah, simpler, happier times.

 

[Dynamito]

Poor Bomber had a bit of a rough ride, razor thin defeats to Kalambay and McCallum plus getting banjoed by Julian Jackson when Herol was beating the snot out of him and going for the stoppage. I might be remembering wrongly but I think he was the mandatory contender for one of the belts (WBA?) when Hagler decided to fight Leonard. Looking at the problems an aging Hagler had with Ray it isn't beyong the realms of possibility that Herol would have handily outpointed Hagler if they had met at that time.

Yep from what I recall Herol Graham was 38 and 0, was ranked mandatory.
His promoters took an unnecessary risk in putting him in with Kalambay for European title. Otherwise he would have fought Iran Barkley for the vacant title I believe.
Kalmbay went on to fight Barkley....

 

[46 Wins]

45 seconds is all it took for Denzel "2 Sharp" Bentley to retain his British Middleweight title, flattening Kieran Smith with a right hand. Too sharp indeed, that was a final eliminator for the Commonwealth title so it's a very rewarding victory for the Londoner.

 

[46 Wins]

British Heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma moves to 3-0 with a unanimous decision win over Ukrainian factory production manager Dobvyschenko.

He tried to do him in round 1 but this opponent had never been stopped previously in 21 fights and he went Kevin Johnson on Itauma tonight. I think he's done his hand in so there'll be some forced downtime for the teenager.

 

[Philly Shell]

Zhang burst Joyce's bubble and his eye too.

 

[46 Wins]

Disaster for the Juggernaut in London last night as Big Bang forces the stoppage at the midway point. From the opening bell the southpaw lead hand was peppering the Brit much like the Joyce jab did to former opponent Daniel Dubois. A lack of head movement and inadequate defence meant that the incoming fire resulted in damage to his right eye rather rapidly. Damage that referee Howard Foster twice called the doctor to look at in the same round, it looked as if the doctor was prepared to let Joyce continue a bit longer but Foster after having spoken to the doctor made a rather deliberate self-assesment of the eye and decided the WBO interim title needed to change hands at that very moment.

The Chinaman was screaming "and the new" over and over before calling out WBC World Heavyweight champ Tyson Fury. Joyce has a rematch clause according to the CEO of Queensberry promotions but whether he exercises it is a different matter.

Credit to Zhang, at 39 years old this was to be the last roll of the dice but then he threw a double six and now he's back in the mix.

 

[Dynamito]

This fight seemed like a risky proposition for Joyce who was on the cusp of a title fight. A smarter management would have put him in with someone alot easier. In anycase I will give him credit for taking a risky fight when he did not need to.

Hopefully he can get a 7 figure paycheck in the future against one of the bigger names. But at his age and technical limitations it seems more and more unlikely. I suspect another loss and that will be it for him.

 

[SimonTemplar]

This fight seemed like a risky proposition for Joyce who was on the cusp of a title fight. A smarter management would have put him in with someone alot easier. In anycase I will give him credit for taking a risky fight when he did not need to.

Hopefully he can get a 7 figure paycheck in the future against one of the bigger names. But at his age and technical limitations it seems more and more unlikely. I suspect another loss and that will be it for him.

Agreed - tough to see a route to the money at his age given the manner of the Zhang fight. Not sure he'd do much different in a rematch, so perhaps best avoid that. But then who does he fight who brings him closer? Not sure there is anything available which would help. Tough moments for him. Credit for taking the fight, but hasn't worked out at all well.

 

[gumbo2176]

Agreed - tough to see a route to the money at his age given the manner of the Zhang fight. Not sure he'd do much different in a rematch, so perhaps best avoid that. But then who does he fight who brings him closer? Not sure there is anything available which would help. Tough moments for him. Credit for taking the fight, but hasn't worked out at all well.

Yeah, Zhang couldn't hardly miss with that left and at times it looked like Joyce was doing his best to see they connected. You'd think after getting tagged a handful of times he'd do a better job of defending against it, but he didn't.

At age 37, it gets harder and harder to get back into contention. There's been a lot of fights I've seen over the years where a guy lined up for a title shot lost what many considered a tune-up fight and then never got the chance to try for the title.

 

[SimonTemplar]

Yeah, Zhang couldn't hardly miss with that left and at times it looked like Joyce was doing his best to see they connected. You'd think after getting tagged a handful of times he'd do a better job of defending against it, but he didn't.

At age 37, it gets harder and harder to get back into contention. There's been a lot of fights I've seen over the years where a guy lined up for a title shot lost what many considered a tune-up fight and then never got the chance to try for the title.

Yes agreed. A bit worrying that he made basically zero adjustment when he was eating so many lefts. Just let them keep coming. Being a juggernaut is all well and good, but you can't be just a juggernaut and go all the way without being found out. I'd hoped he had a better boxing brain than that.

 

[timmothysmith01]

It's considered a risky move for Joyce, and Zhang's punching power adds to the intrigue. This bout could be a crucial step for Joyce before a potential fight with Fury in the summer.