But he also has a better chin and greater size and a better jab than some of the guys that outboxed Tua. If guys like Izon and Wooden can outbox Tua for long periods, so can Joyce and maybe his chin can keep him in there until the final bell. I still favour Tua to beat him at his best but lets not pretend Tua couldn't be out boxed by far worse boxers than Joyce.
Fair points, BUT as much as everyone keeps going on about Joyce’s chin. Tua’s chin is more proven ! Never been stopped in his entire career, and he fought some of the big guns in his era. Let’s go with your opinion of him being flat footed also, now if they stand and trade Joyce gets stopped based on him being stopped once already. TBH I see an actual knockout rather than a stoppage, but for the sake of argument i’ll meet you in the middle and give Joyce the benefit of the doubt that he may survive 12.
David Tua is overrated and he was outboxed and lost almost every big fight, regardless of the stronger competition in his time Joyce would have crushed him...
Is Joyce really a good boxer though? Not imo. He's a solid fighter but not due to his boxing skills. He's got size, strength, chin, output, solid power and stamina. Yeah, that'll do it to compete at a good level. But is he better boxer than the guys that outboxed Tua? Not for me.
I'm willing to concede that Joyce could outbox Tua, it's possible as others did before hand (though usually Tua would eventually KO them). But Tua is also a fast starter and Joyce got lit up by Zhang early and got real hurt by Jennings in round 1 to the body, If that was Tua it would be over.
He doesn't have to be a good boxer to out box Tua, journeymen have out boxed Tua for periods. Joyce's jab alone would cause Tua problems for long periods, combine that with his size and I'd fully expect Joyce to be able to out box Tua for periods of the fight before, Tua's power and Joyce's porous defence to turn the fight Tua's way.