Chinese boxer wins WBO . heavyweight belt
Before the match on April 15, Joyce sent a declaration of war to Oleksandr Usyk - who holds WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweights and Tyson Fury - who holds WBC heavyweight. However, the British boxer became disillusioned with his next world heavyweight title when he put on a lackluster performance and lost the WBO interim heavyweight title to Zhang.
In front of a home crowd at Copper Box Arena in London, Joyce hit more hits with 464, but only had 85 hits, for an 18.3% rate. Zhang had 180 hits but had 82 hits, a 45.6% hit rate. Joyce was marginally better at jabs, with 25 hits from 211 hits, for an 11.8% ratio. While, this parameter of Zhang is 4 hits on the target out of a total of 40 hits, reaching a rate of 10%. However, the Chinese boxer has 78 accurate heavy blows out of 140 hits, reaching a rate of 55.7%. This stat of Joyce is 23.7%, with 60 accurate heavy hits from 253 hits.
The British boxer got off to a bad start when he was soon stunned by his opponent's backhand and right hand in the first round. Things got even worse in the second half, when Joyce was pushed towards the ropes by Zhang and forced to cling to the Chinese opponent's waist to avoid being knocked out.
Joyce had a cut below his right eye and was bleeding, and it was only his defense that got him through the third round. But Zhang still had a series of hits that hit the eye, causing Joyce's right eye to swell severely. Doctors and referees determined that the British boxer could not continue and stop the fight in the sixth round, despite boos from the stands.
Losing the title in front of a home audience, Joyce was disappointed with the performance and apologized to the fans. The British boxer admitted he couldn't cope with the right shots and congratulated Zhang. "It was a good game," Joyce said. "I tried my best, but thought I could do better and was very disappointed. Zhang is an Olympic silver medalist, a good boxer and hits very hard. But my journey is not over. This is just the end. It was an obstacle that I tripped over and will return to."
Meanwhile, this victory is Zhang's perfect comeback after losing to Croatian boxer Filip Hrgovic according to referee points in August 2022. The 39-year-old Chinese boxer could rematch Joyce, when George Warren - son of Frank Warren, Tyson Fury's boss - revealed that the contract between the two boxers had a rematch clause. The winner of this rematch will become the challenger for the official WBO heavyweight title currently belonging to Usyk.
Zhang is a famous Chinese boxer, won the bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships, 2009, the silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games gold medal, the 2009 Asian Championships gold medal, both at the 2009 Asian Championships. super heavyweight.
Meanwhile, Joyce received the first defeat in her professional career, after 15 wins. At the regional level, he holds many heavyweight titles, including two Commonwealth Championships from 2018 to 2021, a British Championship from 2020 to 2022, and a European Championship from 2020 to 2021. As an amateur, Joyce won bronze at the 2013 European Championships, a gold at the 2014 and 2015 European Games, a bronze at the 2015 World Championships and a bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
As of October 2022, Joyce ranks second in the list of world heavyweights competing according to the Transnational Boxing Ranking Board, fourth by The Ring magazine, sixth by ESPN and BoxRec.
