Joe Joyce sadly lost his WBO interim heavyweight title after being defeated for the first time in his career. The fight happened at London’s Copper Box Arena and saw China’s Zhilei Zhang knocked Joe Joyce out during the sixth round. A doctor had to inspect Joe’s swollen eye twice before finally deciding to end the contest. Afterward, Joe told BT Sport how he was ‘just disappointed’ with how things had gone.
“Zhang kept hitting me with his right hand and I couldn’t get away – so he deserves lots of respect. I thought I was going to win, like usual, so thanks everyone for your support and congratulations.”
Joyce won a silver medal in the 2016 Olympics, which meant he was a mandatory challenger to try and win a WBO title from the unified champion Oleksandr Usyk. He was close to a world-title shot.
– What happened: Joyce’s first defeat
He said sadly: “I’m really sorry for disappointing you all, my fans and people who have supported me. Don’t worry though, I’m still going to keep going and make sure I get back up. This is just a bump in the road – I’ll be back.”
“Terminator” Terminated
At the Olympic games, Zhang and Joyce were both awarded silver medals. However, Joyce was not able to keep his title of WBO interim champion. Though Zhang is a lot older at 39 years old and taller at 6ft 6in tall, he was expected to be less likely to win. When Joyce entered the ring for the fight, it was accompanied by the theme music from the movie Terminator, and Joyce put on an impressive show.
‘Big Bang’ started off really strong, hitting Joyce twice with hard lefts. The punches were so powerful that ‘Juggernaut’ Joyce, who had the best and strongest chin in this division before, was having trouble recovering from them. He was basically like an easy target at some points and got stunned by a left punch and then a major right one in the second round. He stayed dazed until he stumbled back to his corner.
Joyce’s nose was bleeding and his eyes were swollen, even though he weighed in 9lb lighter than his opponent. Zhang’s punches made a loud thud when they hit Joyce’s head, causing Joyce to defend himself by throwing punches back starting in the fourth round. His team was worried the fight might have to be stopped since Joyce’s eye started closing up.
When the doctor checked on Joyce between rounds five and six, Zhang grinned at the crowd. The fight was allowed to keep going, but since Joyce seemed unable to see properly -and was getting hit hard by Zhang’s punches – Referee Foster made the doctor check him again during round six before stopping the fight to protect Joyce from any further harm.
Zhang’s Record Breaking Career
Zhang has won 25 fights in his career, with 19 being stoppages (means ended abruptly), 1 defeat and 1 draw.
He said that today he feels successful as it belongs to him, everybody who showed up and all of the Chinese fans. He also mentioned that even though he is now 39 years old, he still trains hard so he can achieve his goal of winning a world title!
During fight week, Joyce said his plan is to go for a world-title shot against Usyk, WBC champion Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua for a big money bout.
He promised he would come back and George Warren, his promoter, said they might try to have another fight against Zhang.
Mikaela Mayer Challenges Katie Taylor for Championship Title
Mikaela Mayer is an American boxer and has won 18 out of 19 fights. In October, she lost one fight to a fellow U.S. competitor Alycia Baumgardner via split-decision. That night, Mikaela moved closer to fighting Katie Taylor from Ireland in the future as she had a victory against Lucy Wildheart on points.
Mayer, a 32-year-old former world champion boxer, was better than Wildheart in their boxing match. He kept the distance between them and he fought better inside the ring during the middle and later rounds of the match. This led him to winning an interim championship belt from WBC (World Boxing Council). Now, Meyer has his sights set on Taylor, who is currently holding the championship title.
The judges decided that Mayer was the winner of the fight with a score of 98-91, 98-92 and 100-90. Mayer said she really wants to fight Katie Taylor and if that happens, she will challenge the winner. She also said she feels amazing and wants to face tougher opponents. Lord Sugar has opened his tough boardroom again in Australia, while Jason Derulo is looking for an exciting all-around artist in Britain.
