Joe Joyce, Overrated?

Perhaps so although I feel he's clearly better then Joyce and this fight shows it

 

I'll be honest I am not seeing that at all. Mostly his fans are taking it in stride.

I see his detractors turning it up to 11.

I liked the guy, never thought he was great, still like him and still don't think he is great. I've not gained nor lost a thing.

 

Nothing wrong with enjoying his fights, he just ain't ever going to be the man of the division

 

And people wonder why heavyweights don't take risky fights.

One loss and the fans all start writing you off and calling you an overhyped bum.

 

It's easy to pretend somebody is world class when they don't fight.

It's impossible to have a confident opinion on him because everybody looks impressive beating up Eric Molina.

 

True, although they share a common opponent. Hrgovic seen the final bell, Joyce got stopped

 

I've never been that high on Joyce.

 

And he may but he got stopped tonight

 

Agreed. We need to see the big names fighting each other way more though.

 

And Zhang who stopped him

 

Zhang vs Hrgovic makes all the sense in this world right now. Joyce has no buisiness with Hrgovic, after ducking him in 2020 he doesnt need redemption card from Him, let Wilder handle Joyce.

 

At least Joyce had balls to fight, unlike those fake chmpions like Fury and AJ

 

Boxing fans are the most fickle especially in the tik tok long sttention span era.

 

We knew Joyce couldn't outbox Zhang. He always had to tire out and stop him, and he was actually getting there. Suffice to say, such method always had its risks.

Make Zhang orthodox and the fight instantly looks different, because every jab Joyce throws doubles up as a leverage guard against the rear hand; that and he has easier time landing it and disrupting Zhang's breathing pattern which is a big deal.

That's not feasible though. Southpaws exist and they are dangerous, especially one such as Zhang. Some fighters might just have too much trouble getting past them and it does not at all reflects their capability to demolish orthodox fighters.

What still astounds me is Joyce's chin, engine, and pressure. There were moments when I was certain he is soon taking over the fight and even though he was rocked, the man took insane amount of brain bleed inducing shots and recovered instantly.

I had the first three rounds:
10-9
10-8*
10-9
*I'd understand both 9 and 8. I was willing to score it 10-8 due to an amount of unanswered shots.

Those were rounds in which Zhang was free to shoot at Joyce like you shoot at a fish in a barrel with Joe being nearly clueless bar perhaps the third but shots were mostly picked off there. The moment Joyce upped the pressure and was more willing to get inside Zhang began tiring. Fighting from the outside will always be less taxing and more comfortable for him as far as the breath pattern goes. Had Joyce cleverly moved in to unload inside and clinch/control game, the three rounds he wasted on having his eye closed would likely make a difference between a loss and a victory.

 

As a fighter he's gone down in my estimation based off his loss last night, but I still consider him one of the best HWs in the sport right now. Zhang just has a really dangerous combination of qualities that spelled doom for Joyce last night. He's like this generation's Corrie Sanders.

I'd rate Joyce in the bottom half of the top ten at the moment. He can bounce back with wins off the likes of Whyte and co. Or go to the States and smash up Ortiz and Ruiz. That'd put him back in the picture.