FanPost

Joe Joyce the Juggernaut, the boxer of distance past in modern days Heavyweight


Hi all this is my first first fan post and could also be last because I rarely have much to say about fighters in this era in particular heavyweight in depth. But I must say after watching the fight between Joe Joyce and Joseph Parker. Somehow i felt this shouldn't left unsaid. Joe Joyce or from now on I'll call him George Joyce because of that similar nostalgic feeling I felt from the one great George Foreman. I believed he earned that nick name.

First Lets talk about the man himself.

Joe Joyce was born in 19 September 1985 ( as of this writing he is age 37) London, England.

Is a boxer with great pedigrees that span from his time in amateur boxings and cumulated all the way to the Olympics earning a Silver Medal in 2016 at Super Heavyweight class. Although it wasn't without controversial results which by the way, has been plague olympic boxing for a long while now just like how we know about boxing at the pro level itself. During those time Joe has proven that he is at the level of high discipline and skill deserving a move to pro level and he did at the age of 31 in 2017. Yes, it is incredibly late if you think about it which makes Joe Joyce a different specimen that is incredibly rare in Boxing world.

Joe Joyce has a style that is closely similar to the old age boxers, his rock and sock'em 1-2 straights, shooting jabs, his stoic stance and the most eye catching from all is the fact that he is "slow" in comparison to most high level boxers. Which is a fair assessment especially when you get to watch him fight Usyk during the old semi-pro boxing series 9 years ago.

This is the video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuASpmqoJVM

In this fight we can see the fast lightning quick movement from Usyk and the seemingly much slower and stoic Joyce going at it. The result is clear, Usky was the better boxer, however in my personal believe and opinion watching that fight, i can't help but thinking a 5-0 shut out for Usky is not right, in particular round 3 where Usky didn't do much but the scoring doesn't tell the fight story much like how Usky was beating The one and only "Chechen" Artur Beterbiev. If you look at pro boxing type of scoring, Usky won't get that 5-0 score despite all his showboating. I look at the fight although i still believe it is Usky but it will be slightly closer between 4-1 or 3-2. Still a clear win but boy if this goes 12 it is going to be very interesting because Usky clearly doesn't take Joe's power shot well when it landed flush.

Back to what Joyce himself is all about, he represent something that is not from the current boxing era use, his shots selection and the way how he telegraph his shots. He somehow get the timing right for a lot of those punches despite being slow in delivery, I mean there are times that you will saw it coming, but the opponent seems to can't see it and get caught instead. You know what it reminds me of? The kind of haymaker that the great George Foreman throw, it is not sudden but it's a charge shot. Of course the biggest different is that George Foreman haymaker in his heyday will send most of us to hospital bed for a week, but Joyce had enough pop to just stop you from doing much which is amazing how that actually can landed being traveling that slow. But yet again a lot you probably said his opposition is just not good enough to test which is fair considering his 15 fights were largely against those that already out of his prime like Bermane Stiverne or Carlos Takam. Which is fine but lately the fact that kind of argument of his level of opposition has changed and it must comedown to Tyson Fury or Usyk, or Wilder means that , He is in that class and remember before your rebuttal please remember, Joyce debut at the AGE of 31. So he is not exactly the young guns beating old men. He is the young career 30s man beating the old guys.

His biggest one challenger during that young career start taking shape when he face Bryant Jennings. Which turn out to be a great fight and Juggernaut proceed with his juggernaut work rate which is incredible because in that fight, he got caught flush to his body in the first round which he felt but moments later, it was Jennings that felt his presence in a big way, a powerful way, a relentless way. I personally score it 8-4 with 1 point deduction after lots of low blow from Jennings so it is pretty good dominant win. Then during the pandemic the big step was taking the challenge against Daniel Dubois or better known as DDD which by the way the crazy Ricky Hatton once said the best Heavyweight in the world... I still think he need a nice check up with that comment. So DDD being the unproven one, being matched with a punk red hair colored japanese heavyweight that he K.O in 2 rounds learned a very good lesson in a bad way. Juggernaut is tough, all kinds of offense that generally put down his opponent barely do anything to the man and as the round progress the damage that he sustain was just unbearable and he quit after Joyce clearly done a real damage to that left eyes of DDD. The most impressive part of it, Joyce look as fresh as he just got out from Sauna. Nothing much to be said about damage, because there nothing to be mentioned. Thus his other weapon starts to show up, the fact that His chin is absurd. Which become apparent that he fight Joseph Parker, flush shots after flush shots and in one youtube video recapping the fight it has very interesting comment and this is the quote
"parker started fast and soon met with the juggernaut signature defense....his head." By no means that head was a target, it was a shield that capable of blocking shots whilst the real Joyce will shoot his punches.

Which is why I felt that it is incredibly rare. Joyce is a rare Heavyweight boxer than you can only find and name a few to have that equal standing, the almighty chin and power that comes with it. Gentlemen, it is easier to find a good boxer, a K.O artist than finding an immoveable objects like Joyce. Joyce chin with the current eye test is at the level where only 3 men can say they have that similar durability if not more : George Chuvalo, George Foreman and finally Rocky Marciano. It's like Joyce has been chosen to be the one that carry that old era toughness to compete with this era of heavyweights.

In closing

Joe Joyce is a problem to everyone but Fury and Usky?. Let me think for second..... I know the fact of how much people will favor Fury and Usky if they fight because of the clash of style, his apparent slowness but there're things that I bank on that will make the fight actually harder than most people predict. Fury is big and agile ,great but he also has shown the he got pushed around by smaller fighters and he only manage to big boy them because he is far bigger in size, that's not exactly going to be a problem to Joyce in my humble opinion, because for the first time ever, Fury won't go in to fight someone that when he got cornered he can just push the guy away because Joe is at the similar weight, with big calf and leg that can become the factor where he will be in equal footing as Fury. Also the fact that he is relentless, durable and has shown time and time again that he is really strong. That will be the keys for him to actually push the fight in his direction. As far as I concern looking at the current landscape of heavyweights, Joyce is probably the only one that can do that. But alas, this is all but a naught chatter and prediction with no real substance since the fight probably will never happen. We can dream, we can disagree but we most likely will never be able to see it.

I'll bid my farewell for now. Thank you for whoever that will read this and let's hope that we will get a chance to see good fights from these heavyweights.

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