And Joyce was expected to do the same to China's Zhilei Zhang in London with Joyce taking punches, falling behind on the scorecards early, and then like rain on cardboard, reducing Zhang's attack and finishing him late in the fight.
And all of those things were falling into place, except for one detail- Zhang's left hand couldn't miss Joyce's face and after five plus rounds, Joyce's right eye was closed, and the expected late rally would never occur as the fight was stopped in round six due to the condition of Joyce's eye.
The Zhang victory gave him possession of Joyce's minor title and more importantly, slipped Zhang into the mandatory position for an eventual title try for the heavyweight titles currently held by Oleksandr Usyk.
While I couldn't quibble with the decision to stop the fight, I do wish the doctor had given Joyce at least the remainder of the round ( or even the seventh) to try to score a stunning knockout.
Joyce deserved at least a round to try to take Zhang out, in my opinion, but it's tough to say the fight was stopped prematurely.
Zhang started fast with a strong first round and staggered Joyce in the second, although Joyce managed to stay on his feet, and Joyce's face was already showing its worse for wear with bleeding from the nose and the swelling around his right eye was beginning.
Joyce had his share of success too and actually landed more total punches but surprisingly it was the punches from Zhang that had the stronger impact rather than the heavy-handed Joyce.
Joyce battled through and his volume could have been turning the tide if his eye had not betrayed him, as Zhang's lead on my scorecard was only 48-47 after five rounds
Still, Zhang's power shots were landing more often than Joyce's and it is possible that Zhang may have been the victor even if Joyce's eye would not have swelled shut.
Joyce has a contractual right to a rematch and he certainly will accept that with the loss of his minor title and top ranking in the WBO but that will take some time as Joyce could have suffered a broken orbital bone which could keep him out of the ring for a few months.
Given that this fight was filled with exchanges and big punches, a rematch will be anticipated by boxing fans, and assuming Joyce's face can hold up longer and better in a return bout, I'd give Joyce a good chance of reversing the result.
However, the lefthanded stance of Zhang gave Joyce loads of problems and Joyce will need to make plenty of adjustments that will enable him to avoid the Zhang straight left that caused so much damage in this defeat.
Boxing Challenge
No comments:
Post a Comment