Joyce vs Zhang 2 Will Be A Different Story

This is a dangerous but winnable fight for Joyce. He needs to put the pressure on Zhang much earlier, but also use angles and footwork to constantly keep Zhang guessing and unable to effectively counter. Above all he can't rely on his steamroller approach that he took last time. Big Mountain just hits way too hard to make that a viable tactic.

I'm a Joyce fan so I'm rolling with him on this one. If he loses, eh, well, I'll live with that. But I have faith he'll make the correct adjustments this time.

 

Odds are super competitive so far. Usually people overstate the name fighter's chances in a rematch, so Zhang probably is the better bet but I still don't trust his gas tank. Plus I suspect Joyce will get friendly scorecards. Question is whether he can make it to them. Don't know.

 

This all hinges on Zhang’s conditioning. which has sucked. Zhang is non existence after 6 rnds. The blue print is there with the Hrgovic fight.

 

Im going 60/40 in favour of Zhang. First fight really got stopped only because of a freak injury, without which Joyce could probably pull a victory either by KO, if Zhang got to the point of complete exhaustion, or more likely, by home turf decision. Question is, can Joyces skull outlast Zhangs stamina tank, cause he got no other options. He definitely won't come out dodging and slipping like a slick cat after a few month of adjustment, so he better conditon his head and neck muscles.

 

I doubt it

 

Joyce was getting stronger in the late rounds and zhang was tiring

 

Joyce was getting desperate and throwing the kitchen sink at Zhang because he knew the fight was about to be stopped. If you keep getting hit in the same spot, you'll always lose via damage.

 

Zhang got old 10 years ago lol, so no chance he gets old over night.
Power is the last thing to go and he has plenty

Joyce can win by out lasting him, so I give him a 40% chance.

If Joe has lost a little bit after the last fight I think he might get KTFO.

I expect a fun fight and will be watching, wouldn't bet anything big on this one.

 

I'll be honest I've been watching clips of Zhang train and he's looking like a monster at the moment. Loads of power. For Joyce to win this he's going to have to box clever especially early on and show another side to his game.

 

Joyce boxing behind the jab. Similar to the Dubois fight. Cautious in the first half and then an easy second half. Definitely a winnable fight for Joyce

 

Joyce needs to just be more defensive and work the body. Keep his damn hands up and see where Zhang's condition is in during the later rounds.

 

Joyce and defensive do not belong in the same sentence. I give him a 40% chance like others have, but feel Zhang will lay it on him worse this time out.

 

Its an interesting fight. Zhang looked much quicker and sharper but then Joyce is super durable, its not like he was KO'd, and a war of attrition most likely goes in his favour IF he can last longer this time.

I like both guys anyway and hope the winner gets a big opportunity soon.

 

I think that was his plan going into the first fight, hence why he came in so light. Problem was he wasn't facing Dubois who doesn't know how to counter. Zhang would just wait for the jab and then counter and Joyce being Joyce couldn't get out of the way fast enough and so ate left hands.

Jabbing against a southpaw in Zhang isn't going to win him the fight. I think he'll come in heavier this time and looks to rush Zhang and try to smother the left hand so it doesn't land with full power. That's what he seemed to be trying to do at the end of the first fight but by then he'd already taken too much damage to the eye and he just ran out of time.