Joe Joyce vs Zhilei Zhang is set for April 15th

In a way yes, but can't excuse all his fights with that.

 

Great fight. Interesting to see if Joyce will be as aggressive as usual against someone with this power.

The winner (at least if it's Joyce) should face the winner of Usyk-Fury.

 

Out of interest who should he have tried to fight in April? AJ has Franklin on the 1st and was never going to look at Joyce after the back to back Usyk losses, Fury and Usyk are tied up together, Wilder and Ruiz are tied up together, the next top level guys after those are Hrgovic, Zhang and the ghost of Ortiz if he can be classed as a top guy, so I have no issue with him fighting the best available contender, who many think should have a win over Hrgovic from their fight, so which A level opponent would you like to see Joyce fight instead of Zhang?

 

The question is which big name he ever challenged, with all my sympathy to Joyce.

 

I agree I'd definitely like to see him be more vocal about the big fights but he has thrown his hat in the ring previously for the AJ fight and for the Fury fight when the December opponent was in doubt, the only other big name in the division outside of Fury, Usyk and Joshua is Wilder, who was never going to fight an opponent as good as Joyce after the Fury fight, choosing instead to fight Helenius for a confidence builder, and is currently tied up hashing out the Ruiz fight. I think Joyce's problem is there isn't another fighter in the division willing to take on a tough opponent without it being for a title/title eliminator, who has similar pedigree, and similar time constraints in terms of being a similar age and therefore having pressure to take the hard fights before they age out... Oh wait... Yes he does... Zhang, the guy he just signed to fight... Dont know how this fight can be knocked, really. Would you prefer to see him sit on the shelf and wait around for a title shot against one of the A level guys? Or actually put in the work, taking on young guns like Dubois, seasoned veteran former champs like Parker, and olympic calibre, big strong and powerful opponents like Zhang? Surely those are the kind of fights that make an A level guy in the first place? Dubois, Parker and Zhang would all be in Fury, AJs and Wilders top 5 opponents so to have that resume , after this fight, would have to make Joyce an A level guy, surely? And after April/May, the top 4 guys in the division will all be free to schedule a fight with Joyce, assuming they don't duck.. I honestly don't see what alternative path Joyce should have taken and you've not enlightened me on the topic at all

 

A champion who is willing to fight Dubois might as well fight a YouTuber.

 

Oh, yeah, yeah... AJ and Usyk, both having victories over him, avoid Joyce, Fury and Wilder are scared of him. On the other hand, Zhang, who's around top 30 is a great opponent for Joyce who's 38 soon - why am I mentioning that? Because will be nice to see him putting more pressure on the top 5 guys and finally face at least one of them, as he's out of time. Instead, he has a great victory over the fading (sadly) Parker, no doubt a serious opponent and Dubois who actually lost to a guy rated even below Zhang.

Both AJ and Fury faced a bit better than Joe so far. Wilder didn't, isn't even close, nor will ever be. At heavyweight, Usyk is also far from what Joyce faced and I know - his cruiser record - fair. But he's no longer in the cruiser division.

I am not here to enlighten anybody, you can keep seeing Parker and Zhang as some great level fighters. We see things differently, that's fine. Not going to convince you anything. I am just saying that to me it seems Joyce is not willing to push for the top guys. Maybe some of them or even all of them (well, bad surprise - here we include Usyk) avoid him too.

 

You're right. Have the champs keep taking turns on the Whytes and Chisoras of the world:^) Maybe a Pulev or Povetkin if you're daring!

 

Are you kidding me? You really consider Dubois a better opponent than the Povetkin Joshua fought? Dubois has no top 40 wins and just got dropped 3x by a top 30 cruiser journeyman. The marketing behind the guy is fraudulence, and anybody who considers him a legitimate world prospect at this point is gullible at best.

 

Not saying they are scared of him - a duck can be financial, which could likely be a factor as Joyce isn't the most well known heavyweight, likely down to his understated personality, which is why I said I'd like to see him be more vocal. Zhang is top 15 with 2 sanctioning bodies (not the gold standard I know) and would likely be with all 4 had he not (imo) got shafted against Hrgovic, if any of the Champions announced they were fighting Zhang it would be a good fight, so as a stay busy fight for somebody that already has a top ranking and just has to wait for a title shot, it's a good fight, and in this day and age it's highly unusual to see somebody take a risky fight like this when their high ranking is at stake without any huge financial reward or boost in status if he wins, and this is why I first responded to your first post ; who should he be fighting instead?

Of the remainder of the division that isn't already tied up in negotiations, Zhang is one of, if not the best, so to s*** on this fight you should be able to at least say who he should be fighting instead?

Let's not forget Zhang's previous fight was main support for Usyk - AJ, so this strikes me as the type of fight that creates more clamour for a match between Joyce and one of the A level guys, and while I do think Joyce should be doing more clamouring himself and promoting himself more, I can't knock the guy for being a quiet operator that just gets his job done.

I agree Parker is (sadly) fading , and I agree Dubois wasn't a great fight (although Joyce introduced the quit into Dubois's game which later reappeared in his fight with that cruiserweight), I'm merely stating that Joyce has taken the type of fights that actually put pressure on the A level guys to face him - he knocked off a young hard hitting fighter with a Growing hype train behind him, he had a much more memorable fight with Parker than either Joshua or Whyte as well as winning far more emphatically than either, next he's taking on a fighter that is in a similar situation to himself in Zhang, who was last seen on the losing end of a controversial decision to another very good fighter in Hrgovic, on the undercard of the rematch between two of the top guys - the steps Joyce has taken, and continues to take, are how he is putting pressure on the guys ranked above him, the definition of letting his fists do the talking. If not Zhang, of the available fighters there isn't really anybody better, so would you prefer to see him fight a lower level of b fighter? Would you like him to sit inactive until a bigger fight is available? Would you like him to take on an absolute bum to knock over in a round and then scream about how great he is and how he wants his title shot IMMEDIATELY?

I hope I'm not coming across as passive aggressive or anything with my posts, I genuinely am curious how you think he should be conducting himself and what steps he should be taking, because collectively as fight fans we have a tendency to complain about guys not fighting their toughest option, but then when they fight the best available option we also knock them because they're not fighting somebody tougher