I have him in the top 10, and I think he's a good fighter, but come on... His best win was against Takam.... Chisora KO'd Takam.... and this version of Takam, although being in great shape, was still over 40 years old I think he has potential and I look forward to seeing him in a title fight. He's got a fantastic chin and interesting style... But he's SO slow. He has good power, but when he was trying to finish Takam off it's like he was throwing in slow motion. He was hardly dominant over Dubois and Takam, who I don't consider top 10 fighters, not even close. They're not even Chisora quality opponents. Dubois has potential, but has no defence and just sat there with no answer to a jab. I consider Joyce low top 10, but people rate him as if he's one of the best already, some people putting him top 5. Why? Wait until he's beaten someone of Chisora quality first before wanking over him so much. I don't hate Joyce, I like the guy, he's a tank with an interesting style, but there's always the possibility he gets completely overwhelmed by someone of real quality. He has no defence other than to eat shots.
So beating Del boy is enough for people to them put him top 5? Look, if you dont rate him fine Plenty do including myself and think he can beat 95 per cent of todays heavyweights Takam is not a Chisora level opponent you say? But its his best win by a mile Do you actually read back what you type?
He's big and tough, has a good workrate and looks the part. He's Brit and the Brits tend to support their boys. I think he's going to do well except for at the highest levels, where his lack of speed and skill is going to be problematic.
Because he's beaten a lot of top fighters in the amateurs, fighters the casuals and unenlightened would've picked to outbox, out-skill, out-speed or flat-out beat him on paper, should be an Olympic gold medalist (and measures are underway to right that wrong as we speak), has a very solid resume indeed for a 13 fight prospect, and he's a 6'6'' 260lb + colossus of a man and a H2H monster with the gas tank of flyweight, the strength of bear, the chin and heavy hands of a statue, is the world's leading exponent of Slow/Fast Speed, and is the most deceptive fighter in the history of the sport.
Joyce is very good at looking slow for spells then suddenly disrupting his own rythym and catching his opponent very clean as a result. Because of his engine, durability and previous mentioned ability to lull opponents into complacency on his perceived slowness he's a tough night at the office for ANY current Heavyweight - including Fury and Usyk. Right now I think he beats Joshua and Wilder, H2H he is a tough match up for both of them. Resume-wise it's hard to put him top 5, but no one in their right mind really wants that fight - Whyte will avoid him like the plague, so will most of the others. I think Usyk probably has the worst style for Joyce, followed by Fury, but he will give both trouble IMO
He has skills a lot of people seem to dismiss, or shall I say dont see or realise. He's a bit like Tyson fury in the regard of nobody rating him, just the odd few could see he had more about him than people thought. Joyce has skills, he's a tough lad with an under appreciated game. Everyone will have a hard days night with joe, nobody will blow him away, tough nights work for anybody!
I never said I didn't rate him, just not as highly as others do, I need to see something better than a Takam win. Not sure what your del boy point is about. I agree beating del boy is not enough for a top 5 spot. Takam isn't a Chisora level opponent because Chisora beat him, and Takam hasn't beat anyone of any real quality. At least Chisora has wins over the likes of Price and you could argue he was robbed vs Helenius and Parker. What I've typed is completely fine. I said I had Joyce top 10, but I had issue with others putting him top 5 or rating him as highly as they do. I'm saying he has to do more.
Of course he has more to do , but people can rate fighters before they've fought everyone you know, peoples lists are peoples lists,its a personal thing in what and how they feel about a fighters skillset, and what they can see in a fighter, sometimes they get it very very wrong and sometime very right. And that's fine
You're absolutely right, he has to do more. I think he will. Let's see him against one of the top 5 for a proper idea of what he's about.
It's hard to judge how good the Dubois win is because he was unproven himself so I get what the OP is saying. I think because we know for a fact JJ has a chin, heart, and insane cardio, we can assess him better than a fighter who has been steamrolling guys.
I do tend to think british hw's get overrated, but I think Joyce does have a better resume for the past 3 years than most hws other than the champs and recent champs. He's beaten some gatekeepers (Jennings, Wallisch, Takam), a former beltholder (Stiverne) and took a chance fighting the other major british hw prospect in Dubois, and won as the underdog. I think he was being set up as a stepping stone for Dubois but turned that on its head. Whyte gets rated above him but in the past 3 years Whyte's record has been Rivas, Wach, going 1-1 with Povetkin, and needing an assist from COVID. Obv he has better wins going further back.
I think he passes the ''eye test'' to an extent. He's solid with great fundamentals who seems to be a good ''all rounder''. He's got a good jab and can take a solid punch without too much of a problem. His flaws are that he's slow but he offsets that with ruggedness and deceptive timing. He's good at wearing an opponent down. He has a deceptive jab which is accurate and strong. I think his qualities outweigh his weaknesses. The only thing which i think might be concerning is when he fights a boxer mover with good head movement. I think he can beat anyone in the division outside of Fury and Usyk. If Wilder isn't a shell then he'd have a chance of hurting Joyce but he's predictable and i think Joyce would be well prepared to fight him. I think his deceptive jab is his strongest point. He's very good at keeping range changing distances with the jab. Whyte, Wilder, Parker, Ruiz Jr, Hrgovic, Joshua, Ortiz, Chisora... He can beat all those guys. I think his worst style matchup would be a Usyk type or someone like a prime Wladimir Klitschko even though he can pull off the upset.
