Joyce KOs Palmer

He'd never a bloke dive so fast. Joe Joyce the absolute pudding.

 

I know a little bit about Donnie Palmer's situation being from the same city he's from and I've seen him fight.

He was a good amateur a few years ago. But basically, his career got ruined when he got shot multiple times. At least one of the bullets traveled through his...posterior..and did some significant nerve damage on the way out. That nerve damage never fully-healed and he never moved well after the shooting.

He did try to come back and he won a few fights - but not against anybody significant. He spent some time in camps in the UK (Scotland, I think) but never got a promoter to line up any fights for him while he was there.

He returned to the USA about a year or two ago and had trouble lining up a fight. He did eventually get one - against a guy named Bobby Favors. I saw that fight - and let's just say that Bobby Favors was taller when he was lying on the canvas than standing up. Favors was not a quality opponent - and that was no test.

Palmer, though, was 271 lbs for that fight. 30 lbs less than when he "fought" Joyce. I don't think Palmer trained for that Joyce fight at all. My guess is that Haye knew of Palmer from the latter's time in the UK - figured at 6' 10" he'd seem convincing without ever posing a threat to Joyce - and signed him up. Palmer wasn't getting any opportunities - and Haye was probably pretty generous with the money because they need to build Joyce's reputation quickly - so it was probably an easy decision to take the fight, get slept, and bank a nice check for his trouble.

 

No way Palmer trained for that fight. Gotta give Palmer credit for helping fool people into thinking it was legit, though...his pre-fight performance must earn the "Hayemaker seal of approval".

 

Joyce knocks out Palmer?! Hell Palmer has not played golf for years, in fact, he is dead! What did they do, did him up?!