TBF I have only watched the fight once, but the impression I got was that Dubois was winning. Joyce's issue is that he has literally no defence, and just blocks shots with.... his head. It's perfectly reasonable to interpret Joyce to have been losing both his last two fights before he got the KO's. He got hit with some insane shots vs Dubois, who I felt landed the better shots. He is so easy to hit....
You got the wrong impression. Watch it again. Also there is a difference between being up on the cards and winning the fight. Dubois was up on the official cards (not mine) but getting beat up and, therefore, winning the 'contest' AND losing the 'fight' at the same time. The effort Dubois was forced to put into the completed rounds depleted him to such an extent he was going to be stopped. Joyce loiters just in range and just out of it because he lacks speed but has a great chin, so yes, he is relatively easy to hit. But because of the way he uses range, hitting him means you're gonna take punches back - a lot of them. He makes fights about the ability to absorb punches - something he's way better at than most. And he's able to maintain this style of fighting because of his insane stamina. So, in fact, he made Dubois fight his fight and neutralised the faster man's advantages by doing so, and by making it a contest of continuous engagement brought the stamina disparity into play too. He plays the game with the cards he's been dealt, and so far, it's proved to be incredibly effective. Another step up in class will tell us if he can employ this game plan against the elite. For me the jury is out but no way will he be an easy touch for the likes of Joshua who has poor stamina and a questionable chin, the two things Joyce looks to exploit in an opponent...
I skimmed the linked article While i dont like him turning down opportunities to get big fights it doesnt mention anything about the offer and what other options ortiz has
I watched the interview with Joyce. Basically, Joyce is telling that he doesn't really know much about the offer they gave to Ortiz, but "from what he can remember" Ortiz didn't accept. Could be that he's just teasing Ortiz to step up and call him out. I don't know where Ortiz can go from his current position. He's not near a good fight. I hoped he'll be announced as Whyte's opponent, but they went for Otto Wallin. Maybe Michael Hunter or Hrgovic could be an option.
There's no way he would have been able to keep Joyce off for 12 rounds. His only chance was an early KO, which he knew. Blatant duck.
Well, Luis Ortiz is rated in the top 10 by every sanctioning body and he's rated #6 by Ring. I'm fairly certain that WBC #4 Ortiz and WBC #2 Ruiz will be fighting in an eliminator when Andy's knee gets better. He's supposed to return in December. It would be an all-PBC promotion (and not cutting in Frank Warren). Haymon doesn't like to cut people in when he doesn't have to. For the record, I'd rather see Ortiz-Joyce. Pretty much a tossup at this point. Whereas I think Ortiz has very little trouble with Andy Ruiz, honestly.
I've seen the interview too and what he said did seem a bit tongue in cheek, he might very well be goading Ortiz to call him out and then make it hard for him to back out once an offer is made. Ortiz gets mentioned a lot about being an opponent but it rarely materialises for him in to real fights. He's been talked about for a while now as Ruiz Jr's next opponent but he took Arreola instead and still doesn't look like Ruiz Jr will face Charles Martin next. Whyte of course is always mentioned as an opponent but again it either never goes beyond talk or if what Whyte is saying is true, he's turned down multiple offers. Hearn mentioned Ortiz as an option that refused to fight Hrgovic so again that's an option he seems to have turned down. So as you say there seems very little real chance he gets a fight vs anyone decent any time soon. His last fight was 10 months ago and it doesn't seem like he's fighting anytime soon whether that's vs Joyce or anyone else.
Don't know what kind of money was offered Ortiz so hard to say if it was a duck or a low ball offer. At his age he needs a more meaningful payday than what Joyce offers but as all heavyweights do they are able to just sit on their top 10 rating and wait for the pot of gold. If Ortiz and Ruiz came off I could see King Kong with a decent chance to beat Ruiz, not good but decent especially after Andy's recent flop with Arreola.
What will be interesting is Anthony Joshua has a WBA Mandatory defense next. Pulev was his IBF mando. Usyk is his WBO. So the WBA is next. Trevor Bryan is the WBA "regular" champ and should be up next. But the WBA also announced, when they vacated all their interim titlists (Dubois) that they would hold eliminators between their Regular and former interim champs (which would mean an eliminator between Bryan and Dubois) or a four-man box-off to determine a mandatory (which would push a Joshua defense back a ways). The current top WBA contenders are Bryan, Dubois, Hunter, Helenius, Usyk and Ortiz. It's conceivable both Helenius and Usyk lose their next fights in the coming days and weeks, which would move Ortiz up behind Hunter. So Ortiz could fight Andy Ruiz in an eliminator for the WBC title. Or he could engage in a WBA four-man tourney (Bryan, Dubois, Hunter and Ortiz) for a crack at Joshua next year. I still think it will be Ortiz-Ruiz next. But the WBA mandatory comes before the next WBO mandatory, which Joyce is fighting for, so Joshua may not have to make another WBO mandatory defense until 2023. Meaning, even if Joyce won an eliminator, he could be waiting a really long time. So Ortiz has options to mull over. He's in the mix in multiple orgs.
The Joyce vs DDD fight had been competitive up until the stoppage, but it was in no way continuing that way. Joyce had taken over big. Felt Joyce was up at the time though myself.
