What is it that makes Joe Joyce good and how can he beat so many solidt fighters?

I don't mean to take anything away from Joyce, he's a nice kid with the drive to succeed - but to answer your question, look how far Wilder has gone. He is a one-trick pony that has been carefully matched against those who work well for his front foot approach. The first mover that Wilder fought he struggled against, and then as soon as he was forced to go backwards he folded.

In modern-day boxing, you don't necessarily need all of the tools to excel as a heavyweight. Earlier in Joyce career, he met in the ring with Usyk and lost a one-sided fight. Dubois had much the same record until the time they fought and he was exposed as the more limited of the two. Joyce is slow as molasses, but he's consistent. His jab is his best tool, but if you can nullify it, you're in with a very good shot of beating him. Let's not forget the general consensus is that he was losing each round against Takam against the stoppage.

If Usyk and Joyce meet again as heavies, Joyce will lose again - as he would against anyone with speed and the ability to move off the centre line.

 

I used to think the same of Tyson Fury he doesn't pass the eye test. Known of uppercutting himself, often out of shape, can look disorganised and sloppy even ungainly. Dropped a bunch of times, not that fast, lack of fundamentals, fights down to the level of his opposition.

Same with Vitali too, he looked slow compared to Wlad, could look ungainly and was just an ugly boxer to watch at times, but I think he'd beat Wlad and many people feel the same.

It's easy to be impressed by obvious skills like speed and power and even basic fundamentals which is why many picked Dubois over Joyce. But less obvious skills are easily overlooked and I think that applies to Joyce, Fury and Vitali. I'm not saying Joyce is as good as them just that he shares that trait with them.

One problem Joyce has is he fights down to the level of threat he perceives from the opponent, we saw that vs Takam he had no respect for him and so defensively he was irresponsible. Same early on in the Jennings fight, his guard was almost non existent earlier on but after he was hurt he switched things up. Against Dubois he was far more cautious and boxed behind the jab.

The more subtle things is what makes Joyce more effective than he looks. His footwork and movement is very underrated if you just watch his feet he's almost constantly moving, he's rarely just standing there. His jab may not be the ramrod jab of Dubois but it's heavy and he uses it with greater variety throwing to the head, chest and body and he's very consistent with it, making it the superior jab as we saw when they fought yet many were thinking he'd get out jabbed by Dubois. Hard and fast doesn't always mean good.

Yes he gets hit a lot but that usually because he's pressing so much and being so aggressive and he often rolls with the shots so he isn't always taking the shots with full power. He actually has good head movement but if you're as aggressive as him and as big as him head movement only does so much. His actual defence is quite varied he doesn't just rely on head movement or his footwork or just a high guard he mixes up all three methods. So you are not always presented with the same look from him, one moment he's high guard, the next he's low guard and even rolling the shoulder, next he's moving and keeping distance.

Joyce also varies his attacks and rhythm well. He's not just once paced, he can suddenly alter his tempo as we saw vs Takam at the start of rd 6, he suddenly threw a quick 3 punch combo unlike anything else he'd thrown that fight. He has good punch variety he doesn't just attack you the same way over and over again, his attacks are unpredictable, he's not just a heavy jab and right hand.

 

Joyce has size, power and a chin. That can take you far, especially in the current abysmal division.

But he'd come badly unstuck against a guy his own size with a better jab (eg Klitschko) or a guy that's faster and moves well (eg Usyk) or even a guy with outrageous one shot power (eg Wilder). With good matchmaking he could go far though.

 

He's not lacking skill, but doesn't have an elite level of skill though.

AJ/Fury would cruise to an easy UD against him.

 

Joyce probably has the best engine and chin at heavyweight right now.

 

What he's bad at is easy to see. What he's good at is hard to observe.

Joyce will never pass the 'eye test' but he keeps winning fights and, so far, pretty easily. He needs a real step-up now. If he were to beat one of the current top-10 fighters like Ortiz, Parker or Hunter, then the eye test fail would be even less relevant.

But I suspect Warren will mothball him until he can secure his mandatory. We might not know if he's the real deal until he's in the ring fighting for a world title...

 

A crap era in heavyweight history

 

Joyce’s strengths are durability, chin, stamina and he’s heavy handed.

His weaknesses are he’s slow and ponderous and he’s easy to time. He can overwhelm these lower tier guys but Aj, Fury and a guy like Usyk will box him to an easy decision.

 

Big, strong, heavy handed, able to consistently apply pressure without losing steam, and most of all hes ridiculously durable.

 

He has a very good jab, he has a tremendous chin and he has one of the best engines I've ever seen for a super HW. The attributes plus his very strong composure will take him pretty far.

 

I posted the clip elsewhere so won't spam it here, but anyone who doesn't 'get' Joyce, should watch the very beginning of round six. As they meet in the middle he unleashes a quick (yes, quick) three-punch combo which catches Takam off guard and is the beginning of the end of the fight. Arrhythmic, rhythm as you say... and insight into his ring IQ. He planned that between rounds on the basis of how round five finished...

 

A guy in the You Tube comment section made me laugh when he said Joyce looks like he's fighting underwater...and he does.

As for why keeps winning it's as simple as this; he is strong, durable, surprisingly fit, and he can take a shot.

Add in his obvious power, and it's just a case of victory by attrition.

 

Well he's durable,,,,,with what's been put in front of him so far. I think if Takam had been the same age as Joyce you might have seen a very different fight. I mean who's being discussed as his next opponent, Ortiz? he's 42. Chisora? he's 38 and an inactive gatekeeper . As BCS8 said , the division is abysmal .