Zhilei Zhang vs. Joseph Obey Joyce II & Pierce O'Leary vs. Kane Gardner RBR.

Funny looking back at Fury's comments that Joyce was second best Heavyweight. Wonder how much if that diatribe was I his own self interest.

Don't be surprised if Fury fights Joyce.

 

Combat sports in general are not really popular in China. Even Zhang Weili is not that popular. ONE Championship has many Chinese fighters but it doesn't take off in the mainland. There might be some fights in Macau, mainly to attract potential casino visitors. Zou Shiming had most of his fights in Macau.

Or Zhang Zhilei will be the guy who makes boxing popular in China.

 

Don't care, he deserves it

 

That was brutal. Can’t help but feel for Joyce.

At best, his chin has been granite but he’s taken more flush shots throughout his career than any man has a right to.

That’s always going to tell in the long run - and even in his last fight, the one fight, there might’ve been significant and irreversible damage to his resilience.

Not that Zhang’s punch wasn’t a howitzer, it was HUGE.

Major psychological trauma for Joyce to overcome from the first fight also - and he did appear to be carrying mental luggage from the first beat down - naturally.

It’s more the exception than the rule when a fighter can completely divorce himself from such a defeat and come in afresh and improved for the rematch.

This stuff can happen when boxers actually engage one another in lieu of the deflective hoopla we so often see/hear these days.

Every time two OTHER HWs actually get in the ring to fight one another we have to hear how the inactive Fury would beat them both - continuing to build Tyson an inexplicable “fantasy” career within his actual career - if you could call it a career at this point.

So ALL credit to Joyce and Zhang, for actually getting in there to fight the good fight, not just once but twice - and, as far I’ve seen, they’re two fine men also and credits to the sport.

 

No it was a close fight and they both had moments so the younger more popular fighter got the nod. Boxing works that way.

 

Yeah I remember seeing a video that trauma like the one JJ suffered increases the likelihood of getting KO'd again. I hope the team do an objective look at his chances of being a champion and do the right thing by him.

 

Missed another one bummer

 

Hrgovic should have lost that fight. He was barely standing and Zhang got robbed.

 

Zhang vs Joyce 2

Round 1
Feel out round, Zhang actually tried a few times with something other than a jab
10-9 Zhang(close)

Round 2
Joyce is too slow to be a sustained counter puncher, Bradley is unbearable as usual, Zhang starting to land some straight lefts and stuns Joyce, last few seconds of the round and Zhang lights Joyce up, he's hurt
10-9 Zhang

Note: Bradley just turn off your mic please

Round 3
Zhang bangs Joyce at the end of the round and its a KO

 

Just one more time as I'm finally watching this fight, Bradley....is.....awful

 

And he wraps it up with "I told you so".

 

I must own up to being very, very wrong about Zhilei Zhang

I even put the first fight down to Joyce being off because I had watched Zhang vs Forrest and Lewis and he looked like an old unhealthy carcass with zero tank or skill. I guess that he must have been ill or injured or both because he looked nothing like that guy last night vs Joyce

Fury or Usyk SHOULD be able to take him apart in different fashions - but will they take the fight?

 

Another British stoppage from the boxing hater Steve Gray. That was a short, tysonfuryesque canvas nap but he beat the count, wasn't wobbly at all and it was the end of the round.

But at the same time Joyce looked like a real fraud in there and was definitely going to get knocked out anyway. Mentally looked like he didn't want to be in there either. That melon of his is maybe the greatest punch magnet the sport has ever seen and he is simply too slow to compensate it in any way against these faster hard-hitting guys who have any modicum of skill (Dubois had none).

 

At the time it did appear that Joyce looked to be a top 3 heavyweight after he handily defeated Dubois and Parker, second best heavyweight probably a stretch.

 

It's unbelievable that he's learned no technical boxing in all them years in the sport.
No one and I literally mean no fully functioning person no matter how geeky and un sporty can learn and pick up so little boxing technique. I've got to say, the coaches need to be held accountable to some degree.