Joe Joyce: the Most Overrated Heavy Since Michael Grant

fat andy would bounce his head from corner to corner.

 

Guinn, Mesi, and Boytsov were hyped a bit.

 

To be fair he was basically hyped only for a very short period of time, just after the Parker fight. Prior to that when he turned pro he got no hype, he had to sign with David Haye as nobody believed he would do anything as he was seen as too old and slow.

He then beat Jennings which showed he might be decent but still nobody but a few on here really saw him as a contender. He then of course beat Dubois and yes he started getting some more vocal support but again nobody was picking him above Fury, Wilder or Joshua at the time.

It was really only after he beat Parker that the hype on here got crazy and even I a long time fan of Joyce at that point was saying woah slow down guys your getting ahead of yourselves. So yes for this short window between the Parker win and the Zhang loss the fanboys on here were crazy but overall Joyce for the majority of his pro career if anything was rated highly at all and even overlooked.

 

I have no idea what slow-fast speed equilibrium is in boxing, but Joyce isn’t fast and he doesn’t have any speed so I can’t see how it would apply to him.

You can time his punches with a speed dial, waiting for the sun to cross the sky and set before they land.

He’s a face fighter with no defensive instincts and no ability to adjust — either during a fight or between them.

As for his pro accomplishments … what accomplishments? He’s 16-3. In a pathetic era, that made him a contender for a minute. In the 1970s or 1980s, he’d be fighting eight-rounders on undercards at this stage.

Should have been far more active early to get experience and hope something clicked that made him able to actually think and avoid punches in the ring, but no such luck.

He hasn’t had 20 fights and he’s done.

Hype job.

 

No American heavyweight can beat Joyce I don't buy it. Ruiz vs Joyce is 50/50. If Anderson gets past Bakole that should be the next fight, Anderson relies on athleticism and Joyce is slow as crap. A prime Michael Hunter has a good chance. Joshua Edwards turns pro soon, he would beat Joyce with ease

 

i would favor torrez over him even. joyce is the perfect fighter for a guy like that, cause he dont move the target.

 

If anything, Joyce was and remains underrated and underappreciated. He's a much better technician than he's given credit for, he's faster than people say he is (he's pretty light on his feet for a big fella), and yeah he gets hit but he knows how to defend himself for crying out loud. His list of scalps is pretty impressive too all in all. He's a decent counterpuncher, he's got a good jab, his feint game isn't too shabby, he's a skilled and well-rounded HW with an excellent chin and very good power who had the misfortune of meeting one of the hardest punchers of all time and succumbing to Father Time. Had he had a better promoter and been managed better, I think he would have won a title. In most other eras he wins a title imo. I don't think it can really be said he was a hype job when he beat a handful of world champs, should have been an Olympic gold medalist, and only lost when he was on the wrong side of his 30s against a hellacious puncher and in a tight decision where he was clearly quite shot. I stand by my belief that Joyce was a great fighter.

 

UK based HWs often get stepped up very early in their careers that can shorten a career

Joyce started his career against Lewison
Fight 8 he is against Stiverne
Fight 9 Ustinov
Fight 10 Jennings
Fight 12 undefeated Dubois for the British title
Fight 13 Takam
Fight 15 Parker

It's a far tougher start than many HWs tend to do in other countries
American based HWs don't seem to get stepped up so quickly and don't have the pressure of the British HW title

 

I'm pretty sure that some people were rating him over George Foreman, young and old versions.

 

Overrated. And his chin is a myth.

 

How the heck can someone be too fast to miss?

Was Wilfred Benitez not fast enough and that’s why no one could hit him, lol?

Dude I don’t know where you’re getting information but this is all head canon. There’s no such thing as ‘too fast to miss’ — he’s too SLOW to miss … which is to say his head avoids punches at glacier speed. Chisora threw some haymakers in round 2 that didn’t land until round 4 … and Joe was still right there when they finally arrived.

 

Agreed with this. So many people were making him out to be this head to head monster who would KO AJ easily and I never really understood why

 

Nah his chin is ridiculous

 

The overrating of his chin is what is ridiculous.

Too many people confuse good with great. No fighter can be judged on his chin after such a small body of work, especially given the guy has ben sat on his arse on a few occasions now.

Good chin? Yep.
Very good? Probably
ATG chin? You’d have to smoke copious amounts of crack to believe that.