The WBO's mandatory contender for three title champion Oleksandr Usyk, Joyce still ranks behind Daniel DuBois for the WBA (and a former Joyce victim) and the IBF's Filip Hrgovic in the rotation that unified champions go through with each organization's mandatory challengers, so "The Juggernaut" is staying busy rather than wait for that eventual bout in order to stay sharp and even importantly, cash some checks to add to what he gains in sharpness.
And just as in his last fight, an eleventh-round knockout of former WBO champion Joseph Parker, Joyce isn't facing a soft touch in China's Zhilei Zhang.
Zhang matches Joyce in height at 6'6, outweighs the hefty Joyce by twenty pounds, and in his most recent bout in an IBF title eliminator, Zhang lost a very close decision to Filip Hrgovic in a battle that had he gotten the nod, it would be Zhang owning the IBF's top contender slot.
Zhang scored a flash knockdown of Hrgovic and won the fight by one point on my scorecard, only to lose on the official slates by margins of one, three, and three points.
Neither fighter is particularly fleet of foot and both like to slug in the middle of the ring, so I think the fight should be an entertaining battle with the potential for even more excitement.
Boxing Challenge
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