I know Zhang beat him twice and neither fight was close as it was a brutal ko But could that be chalked up to styles make fights? Joyce beat Parker and Dubio Zhang ko Joyce twice, Kod Wilder at the end of his career, lost to Parker, Hrgovic and Kabayel But Joyce lost to Chisora and Hrgovic Who has the better overall resume ?
Both stepped up as pro's very late, too. Yes, up to a point it's styles make fights - Joyce had an A1 chin and relied on it... Which takes you past a lot of people, just not the one guy who can generate the power to actually crack it. Joyce has clearly fought on whilst not just declined but absolutely shot, too... Then again, his Dubois win is devalued a bit by just how green DDD was. It should also, probably, count against Zhang that he couldn't even beat Jerry ****ing Forrest on cards... Zhang could bang with the best, but he had absolutely no plan B if that didn't work - go the distance and you'll win, even if you're pretty poor on cards yourself (see Hrgovic). Both guys are overrated, fringe contenders at maximum but were hyped as something more... I'd give Joyce a slight nod, but there's not much in it.
You have to take into account The fact that Zhang beat him not once but twice and both times by stoppage. Joyce has better wins but that is huge in terms of relative resume
I would probably give it to Zhang. Just. Argument both ways but the losses and manner of them were worse for Joyce, in my opinion. That said, Joyce made more of the talent he had than Zhang did. Talent wise, it shouldn’t even be a debate.
Its a good question. I'd say Joyce has a bit more variety in his record as obviously you have past world champions Parker, Dubois, Stiverne. But, you have decent enough gatekeepers like Takam and Jennings. With Zhang its just Joyce, and a very faded Wilder - then thats it really. Zhang didn't even beat any other gatekeepers although he never actually fought many other gatekeepers due to how his career panned out by starting in the pros late.
The parker win has aged really well as have the dubois win. Joyce is a good name for Zhang but wilder was incredibly faded after Fury 2 and 3.
So Wilder was very faded but no mention that Stiverne was beyond shot? Stiverne at his best was a bum.
