Zhilei Zhang was crowned the new WBO Heavyweight interim champion following an upset TKO win over British Heavyweight Joe Joyce. The Chinese Heavyweight put up a tremendous performance against Joyce who failed to properly defend against the hard-hitting Zhang which led to a gruesome eye injury that forced the referee to stop the fight in the sixth round. Their match main-evented at the Copper Box Arena in London on April 15th.
Joe Joyce (15-1, 14 KO’s) had been widely regarded as one of the top 10 Heavyweights in the world before his ill-fated loss to Zhilei Zhang (25-0, 20 KO’s) ― who overcame the pre-match predictions that widely painted him as an underdog. Following his capture of the WBO interim title at Heavyweight on September 24th in 2022 and prior to his fight with Zhang, Joe Joyce seemed to already be looking ahead of his April 15 fight by looking at the top Heavyweights in the division including WBC champion Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24 KO’s) and former unified Heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (25-3, 22 KO’s).
In his match with Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang, Joe “Juggernaut” Joyce offered no true indication he would be ready for aforementioned top Heavyweights given how one-sided his fight with Zhang had been. From the first round and onward, Zhilei Zhang started off fast in order to put Joe Joyce out as quick as possible. Joyce had virtually no answers for Zhang who stood at the same height of 6 feet and 6 inches but was heavier by at least 22 pounds.
The Chinese southpaw proved his mettle and power with his jabs and especially his left hands which Joe Joyce had no answers for defensively. The lack of defensive fundamentals in Joyce’s game was plain to see as he failed to properly react, evade or defend to each of Zhilei Zhang’s blows as the rounds passed. Zhangvirtually dominated every round handily with his work ethic and strong straights.
Though Joyce did attempt his own shots and seemingly landed more, none of his own punches seemed even remotely effective and only a couple of rights from the British orthodox fighter actually seemed to buzz Zhilei Zhang. The Chinese Heavyweight seemed barely vulnerable to most of the Brit’s blows, however, and his own punches never seemed to miss all while clearly packing a lot of power.
Joe Joyce’s right eye suffered damage during the fight and was swollen shut as the fight went on. It came to the point that his eye injury clearly formed an obstacle to any chance of a victory as the 6th round arrived and Zhilei Zhang contemplatively beat Joe Joyce up who proceeded to lack any firepower all while clearly getting outstruck and overpowered.
The referee had no choice but to step in due to numerous unanswered shots of Joe Joyce finding their way through his inadequate defense. The fight was ruled a technical knockout victory for Zhilei Zhang who also earned the WBO interim Heavyweight title for his performance and victory.
This defeat marks the first career loss for Joe Joyce in the professional ranks of boxing, and can potentially put a stop to his supposed claim to become a Heavyweight world champion. Though a rematch has been entertained by Joe Joyce following his fight with Zhilei Zhang, Joe Joyce’s career hangs in the balance not just due to his age of 37, but also because of the dominant loss he suffered to a fighter just two years his senior who was widely considered to be the underdog.
Zhilei Zhang’s post-match interview revealed that he knew he would win against Joe Joyce during the match based on the Brit’s own apparent slowness.
“He is too slow, I could see everything.” Zhang said mirthfully. “It only takes one shot.“
The Chinese Heavyweight is also not shying away from a potential rematch with Joe Joyce.
“I do whatever he wants to do.” Zhilei Zhang responded to the question on another clash with the British former Olympian.
When asked on where the fight would take place, Zhang answered with a resounding “no problem” at the prospect of facing Joe Joyce again in his home country of China or anywhere else.
The event featured a number of fights, but the most poignant match-up was between former world unified Super Featherweight champion Mikaela Mayer (18-1, 15 KO’s) ― who fought for the vacant women’s WBC Lightweight title at 135 lbs for the first time of her career ― and Lucy Wildheart (10-2, 4 KO’s) who filled in for former world champion Christina Linardatou (14-2, 6 KO’s) who was forced to pull out just a day before the fight due to an injury.
Despite taking the fight up on short notice, Lucy Wildheart proved to be more competitive than anticipated and while Mikaela Mayer did course to a unanimous decision win over 10 rounds, Wildheart put up a solid fight that forced Mayer to put in her best effort to come out on top. Having moved up a division to test herself, Mikalea Mayer’s capture of the WBC Lightweight title now puts her in position to face women’s undisputed Lightweight champion Katie Taylor in the near future.
Another main card fight that drew a lot of attention was the Middleweight domestic bout between Brits Denzel Bentley (18-2-1, 15 KO’s) and Kieran Smith (18-2, 7 KO’s). Bentley, who was coming off a decision loss to WBO Middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly (13-0, 8 KO’s), surprised onlookers by brutally knocking out Smith in just the first round to become the BBBofC’s British Middleweight champion.
Elsewhere on the card, British Heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma (3-0, 2 KO’s) resumed his budding pro career with a third victory under his belt, though he did not manage to net a knockout or stoppage against the tough Ukrainian journeyman, Kostiantyn Dovbyshchenko (9-13-1, 6 KO’s). Nevertheless, the 18-year old coursed to a unanimous decision victory but will need quite a number of fights if he plans to become the youngest world Heavyweight champion as he professed to want.
