Would be a very good fight for Joshua to take in the summer but it would not be a Ruiz level upset should he lose. A fight that would be of great interest to UK boxing fans after the demolition of Joyce.
AJ has much quicker feet, much quicker hands and a much better gas tank. He might not engage anywhere near as previously but he stops an exhausted Zhang late.
Based on their last fights I reckon Zhang would bang him out in 6. That straight left hand is swift and devastating and Joshua is shook now. If he's as wary as he's been recently against Zhang then he's bang in trouble. He's going to need to grow a set and quickly and I'm starting to think he's mentally shot.
Joshua would be absolutely destroyed by Zhang Zhilei, who is a behemoth. Joshua's punching power is so overrated and Zhang Zhilei would have no problem taking to land. Zhang Zhilei would also petrify him
Styles make fights, AJ wouldn’t be walking into shots using his face for defence like Joe did. I’d fancy AJ points or late stoppage. I’d back Joe Joyce in a rematch too, he fought a dumb fight and got stopped by a horrific eye injury. Zhang is no mug but if you can get through the first 6 rounds he tires.
I think Joyce will win a rematch too. He just has to avoid the left hand better. He'll take punisent no doubt but he always does. Once Joyce gets to the latter rounds v Zhang he's got an excellent chance and if his eye didn't close up he would have gotten there and thats on a bad night for him.
Behave Joyce is levels below Zhang Zhang is levels above Joyce AJ is a different planet compared to Joyce
Skillset, yes. Chin, toughness and stamina, Joyce is a different planet to AJ. How anyone can dismiss the importance of that in heavyweight boxing is beyond me.
Again, Zhang is a VERY live underdog Would love to see him come out blasting against the racist bodybuilder and finish him once and for all
Easier said than done. Joyce defends punches with his head and Zhang didn’t have to do anything particularly cute to find him. I don’t think the rematch gets made. Too much risk now for JJ. As for Zhang AJ, nothing is certain with this version of Joshua. Being gunshy and unwilling to engage is what will help him win a wide UD here in my opinion. He could get KO’d though