And while the fight wasn't a war, it contained enough action to more than suit the discerning boxing fan and it had more than enough drama for a fight that was so important in the heavyweight division itself, let alone the two fighters involved.
2016 Olympic silver medalist Joe Joyce entered the fight as the underdog for a few reasons.
Many believed that undefeated Daniel DuBois might be the heir to the heavyweight throne after Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua clear up who the best in the world is today.
Joyce was also thought to be too slow with his punches and his feet for the more fluid DuBois and at 35, Joyce was again thought to have perhaps waited too long to turn pro.
However, Joyce did have the best victory of the two on his resume with a decision win over former title challenger Bryant Jennings, Joyce seemed to have a more than solid chin, and Joyce punches pretty well, so he was an underdog with a good chance of winning.
The fight itself was a battle of two blows that the other fighter could not miss the other with.
Joyce continually ate DuBois' right hand and DuBois couldn't miss with his left jab and as a result, you saw a competitive and pretty even fight.
As I watched the fight live and checked people on Twitter for their thoughts, the large majority had the fight for either fighter by a point and that was how I saw it with Joyce leading 5-4 in rounds entering the tenth, but the fight had a dramatic conclusion in the works.
The left jabs from Joyce had taken its toll on the left eye of DuBois and closed it to a slit that hampered his vision and made the problem of not being able to miss the jab even worse so.
DuBois was trying to make it to the finish line of a close fight before Joyce landed what seemed to be an ordinary hard jab that landed directly on the swollen eye.
DuBois dropped to a knee in pain and took the ten count.
For Joe Joyce, who I compared to Ray Mercer before the fight, the Mercer comparison seems apt for now after the upset of the phenom DuBois (Remember Mercer's brutal KO of then undefeated Tommy Morrison?) and although I'm sure at 35 years of age, Team Joyce would love to see a title shot in 2020, that doesn't appear to be in the cards with the Fury-Joshua agreement in place.
I'd love to see Joyce against Oleksandr Usyk, but I doubt Usyk would want to risk his own eventual title shot against a far larger and dangerous opponent.
Dillian Whtye or Dereck Chisora would be good fights and Joseph Parker would bring a different style for Joyce to learn from.
As for DuBois, at 23 and fighting well despite the loss, he may not have lost very much from his first defeat- despite taking the ten count.
The Athletic UK is reporting that DuBois suffered nerve damage around the eye and a broken orbital bone, so that may muffle some of the criticism that he has been receiving for quitting, but considering the struggles that Kell Brook has dealt with since a similar injury.
One final note: Before this fight Joe Joyce was ranked behind some heavyweights that were puzzling choices.
The WBC had Joyce 11th and with no one ahead of Joyce that would be really awful although their 8,9, and 10 choices (Oscar Rivas, Filip Hrgovic, and Michael Hunter) were arguable.
The WBA ranks someone named Trevor Bryan first, recent knocked out Adam Kownacki 6th, Charles Martin 7th, and washed-up Chris Arreola 8th, while not rating Joyce at all.
The IBF placed Joyce at 13th, behind Charles Martin with a head-shakingly awful second, Tyson Fury victim Tom Schwarz 8th, fellow prospect Tony Yoka 10th and Dempsey McKean (Who?) at 12th ahead of Joyce.
The WBO listed Joyce at 11th behind other prospects Junior Fa (6th), Frank Sanchez (7th), Zhilei Zhang (9th), and Evgeny Romanov (10th), none of which boasted a win of Joyce's over Bryant Jennings quality.
I'm not saying Joyce should have been top five entering the DuBois fight, but ratings of that ilk is how you receive awful mandatory challenger fights.....
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