Zhang was huffing and puffing

Joyces game plan was dumb, just avoid damage for 4-5 rounds and then take over lol

 

Fight went pretty much as most expected, Zhang would land flush on Joyce early on, Joyce would remain upright and out work Zhang, Zhang would begin to tire in the mid rounds. So it wasn't a surprise, but what nobody factored in is Joyce sustaining an injury to his eye from the accumulated shots.

I'd also add Zhang showed a good chin himself. Most Joyce opponents have their offense shut down to some degree from the shots from Joyce but Zhang seem unfazed.

 

Well Zhang can be away with being out of shape since most current heavyweights are out of shape.

 

Zhang was put on his butt by Juan Goode. The fact that Joyce couldn't hurt Zhang shows you how overrated Joyce power is.

 

It's not about gameplan. He's incapable of moving his head. He also fights squared up like he never had a proper trainer.

 

Even though Zhangs punch output dropped he was still landing very heavy shots on Joyce. Enough to make a difference.

 

Get dropped one time in decade long pro career with 30 fights while weighing 30 less pounds than you do later on=weak/mediocre chin?

 

But… in those first 4-5 rounds before he gasses… look the **** out!

Not many heavyweights are staying upright after those same lefts Joe ate tonight

 

Joyce has never really been seen as a one punch KO artist though, so not sure why your trying to paint a narrative that people were saying he was. He's always been a heavy handed accumulative puncher. He simply lacks the speed to score the kind of one punch KO's a faster fighter like Wilder can score as it's hard for such a slow fighter to land a shot an opponent doesn't see coming and brace for.

Also Zhang showed a damn fine chin vs Hrgovic eating countless hard right hands. Just because he got dropped once doesn't mean Zhang has a bad chin, Holyfield's been dropped, so has Ali, so has Mercer. Plenty of iron chinned warriors have been dropped.

 

he does breath through his mouth more than i like. i dont know if its due to feeling a lack of oxygen, or just bad habit. he takes big gulps of air before setting into his defensive stance. he needs to learn to breath through his nose.

 

Chisora generally spends 11 rounds huffing and puffing. You could see Zhang was really picking his flurries from Round 3 onwards, and getting plenty of ROI. Zhang just the far smarter and adaptive boxer based on last night's evidence.

 

Um who did Hrgovic ever knock out who was decent and in their primes? Also Ali, Holyfield, and Mercer have fought guys who were legit punchers and took them.

Zhang was knocked down by a D level fighter, Zhang was hurt badly by Jerry Forrest, Zhang is pushing 40 and his best win is against another old fighter in Joyce who also has yet to prove anything as a pro.

Also numerous people have stated Joyce is a huge puncher and or is a harder puncher than Deontay Wilder because he has more weight.

 

I don’t think Zhang was as tired as people make it out to be. He was pacing himself and he was unaffected by Joyce’s volume.

Just before the stoppage, Zhang landed a nasty 3-punch combo on Joyce. His power shot accuracy was over 50% according to compubox.

He wasn’t tiring and Joyce wasn’t taking over. Those power shots were too accurate and Zhang’s punches were affecting Joyce way more than the other way around.

 

Yes, there was zero head movement from Joyce. He was just getting hit flush with everything it seemed. Also, I can't remember any Top 20 or so Heavyweight in the entire time I've been following the sport who's as slow as Joe Joyce. In a lot of ways, he just didn't resemble a World-class fighter at all, but he did, as usual, show a good chin, and a good work-rate. Would have been interesting to see how that fight would have turned out if Joyce's facial tissue held up. Zhang was slowing down, and there was still a long way to go in that fight. Anyway, very good win for Zhang.