Boxing Challenge: Chisora upsets Joyce

     Sometimes the best fights occur when two fighters that are closer to the end of their career than the beginning, have much to gain, and nothing to lose.

That's what took place in London as Joe Joyce and Derek Chisora threw down in a fight that delivered more than what was hoped in a heavyweight fight to be remembered.

It wasn't Foreman-Lyle and there were plenty of clinches between these two aging warriors but there were also many booming punches landed as well and is the latest fight to prove the point that fans can see great fights from fading veterans provided they are matched correctly in their twilight years.

Both men landed their share of bombs throughout but I thought Joyce built a small lead with the bigger punches with the edge in punches landed against Chisora, who used his usual tactic for periods of backing to the ropes or corners and launching counter punches.

Joyce almost made scoring irrelevant near the end of the eighth round as he badly hurt Chisora, driving him backwards, and with another few seconds, Joyce may have forced the end of the fight then and there.

Joyce attempted to build his advantage to start the ninth and again forced Chisora to retreat stunned  into the ropes, landing punches in an attempt to finally polish Chisora off for the evening.

To quote Lee Corso- "Not so fast my friend", Chisora bounced off the ropes to try to give extra leverage to a right hand as a pro wrestler would (Have you ever noticed that the wrestlers always bounce off the ropes off their right side, almost never the left?) and to the surprise of everyone, dropped Joyce to the floor!

Suddenly, a round that Joyce was easily winning became a losing round for him and while Joyce wasn't hurt the scorecards swung in the opposite direction.

The fight seemed to be in the balance and both men fought like it with both men exchanging power blows throughout the road.

Chisora got the better of the action to win the tenth and would win the unanimous decision by scores of 97-92 and two scores of 96-94.

I scored Chisora the winner 95-94 with the ninth round knockdown and tenth round as the difference.

Oddly, this fight had been scheduled for twelve rounds and a few days before the fight was quietly changed to ten.

Not sure why that occurred or if those two rounds would have helped one fighter or the other but I do wonder why the fight was shortened.

I'm pretty certain that Joyce and Chisora are about finished unless matched against fighters of their level and speed but their toughness and heart are still intact and many times that can bring the best in boxing.