Would Joe Joyce be a top contender in the 1980s

No.

 

Doubtful. Too slow, not skilled enough to compete.

 

Realistically no.

And realistically wasn't (quite) even in this era.

 

Larry Holmes would have played pinball with Joyce's head and Mike Tyson would have spat him out inside a round.

 

Jennings was a gatekeeper at most.

And Parker is a good win, but the kiwi fought a ridiculously bad fight plan - in many ways probably the worst Parker we've seen (Parker trying to fight like that against Ruiz, Joshua, etc would've got knocked out).

Joyce was realistically a fringe contender with a lot of hype behind him - a good fighter, but not a main player in the era.

 

Of course he would have been. His sheer size and durability would make him a big threat to anybody looking to take him on head first.

"Holmes woulda ...."

Yeah, sure. I agree. But Holmes is 1 guy. Joyce would have been a problem for nearly all of the rest of the field.

 

Joyce is basically a bigger and slower but STRONGER version of Ray Mercer. If Mercer was a contender in the 90’s… he damn sure would’ve been in the 80’s. So Joyce with his Merceresque chin, size, strength and good power would’ve been right in the mix in the 80’s. Scored some upsets along the way. ESPECIALLY younger Joyce.

Now Champ??? Nah. Doubt it. But top 10-15 yes.

 

This. Boxers go in and out of vogue with incredible fickleness on boxing boards, and not just this one. Plenty of hero to zero evaluations happening. I've been one of the guys criticizing JJ for a lot of things, but let's not forget his positive attributes either.

 

Tyson was twice as quick as Joyce, it would have been a complete mis-match.

 

Tyson and Holmes would have out-classed him easily, but the rest of the heavies during the 80's would have struggled with his size, reach and durability, Tony Tucker was only slightly smaller than Joyce and had the same reach and durability, that would have been a close fight, Bruno had more reach and power, Bonecrusher had too much power too.

 

No he wouldn't.

Larry Holmes
Mike Tyson
Tim Witherspoon
Tony Tucker
Pinklon Thomas
Gerry Cooney
Tony Tubbs
Buster Douglas = 1987-1990

All beat him.

He'd be a top 10 contender yes but a top contender for numerous years ? No. Too many talented Heavyweights.