Joe Joyce vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov.

Makhmudov might win this after several rounds of huge punchs.

If Joyce survives 5 rounds, he will win just because of the stamina.

 

I think Joyce has better skills

Makhmudov better power

 

Absolute blood bath. Joyce wins in my opinion.

 

Joyce by UD or late stoppage

 

Got my hopes up when I saw the thread title. That's a matchup I'd love to see, and Joyce is currently looking for an opponent.

VG_Addict why can't you be more like Chuck Norris and Scott Cork, and make threads about fights that are actually going to happen?

 

It's a shame Makhmudov is stuck so firmly in the low risk/low reward category of fighters because these are precisely the kind of matchups I long to see as a fan; an unstoppable force meeting with an immovable object

If Joyce survives the initial onslaught from Makhmudov then I think he wins pretty comfortably on the cards.

 

Great fantasy matchup, maybe it will happen in the future, I think skillset is on Joyce's side and power is on Makhmudov's side, I also think Makhmudov would be more careful against Joyce because Joyce is a different type of caliber and he doesn't stop punching you...

 

Joyce, easily. Both are slow as hell, both are huge punchers, but Joyce has much better skills and probably chin as well

 

No idea about the chin part, Makhmudov took a beating by Nistor before stopping him in World Series of Boxing. Nistor was a big puncher in the amateur ranks, according to boxrec he has 17KO wins out of 39 recorded wins, and also stopped Joshua in the amateur ranks. Makhmudov took a beating, but never went down and then stopped him in the final round.

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Joyce got stopped by Kuzmin in the amateur ranks, while Makhmudov got KOed by Omarov (with a lightning fast straight left) in the amateur ranks.

 

Joyce is better and more proven, but Makhmudov could be that Ultimate chin breaker.

 

Mahkmudov hasn't got a high-powered promoter behind him. That makes him low reward and he is very definitely a high-risk opponent.

I suppose we might see some significant turnover in the HW division in the next 18 months: Wilder's comeback may not pan out, Tyson Fury may decide to retire and join the circus, and Usyk's strengths are not ones that can be expected to continue for too much longer. Dillian Whyte has had his shot, Ruiz Jr and Parker no longer really excite, etc.

The upshot of this is that the high-powered promoters might make room for Makhmudov in their stable. He's 33 so he hasn't got an enormous amount of time on his side, but sluggers age well and he hasn't really got any "fight-inflicted" mileage on his clock yet.

After Usyk-Joshua plays out - any immediate defense that doesn't involve Fury, Hrgovic, Zhang, or Makhmudov is just a big, fat waste of time as far as I am concerned. Give Jalolov 12 months and 2 more fights and you can add him to that list.

 

Makhmudov may be a plodder and a bit basic, but he's dead-solid and probably one of the top-two/top-three hardest punchers in the division. He can stop Joyce.

 

Joyce's jab is very good. Good enough to keep Mak off him long enough? That's the question.