Thanks. He was a little square on at times and he could do with keeping his head off the centre line, but not a bad effort when ring rusty, as it was his first fight in over a year and with minimal prep due to uni obligations.
It's gotta be so easily done when immersed in the action especially in the amateur game where it can all get a little 'blitzkriegy' with no time to think. Even the pros fall victim to it... see Herol Graham's knockdown on this thread somewhere. Thought he got his man cornered & hurt and went in with his chin up & square and got caught big time.
The other mistake he made was letting his oppo recover after catching him flush on the chin with the left hook. He hesitated and then rather than stepping right to cut the ring off and pressuring the guy into the corner in order to finish him, he defaulted to the jab and let him escape stage left. But, like I said, he’s not fought for a while and not only is he is still learning, but he’s quite humble and knows he isn’t the finished article just yet, so it’ll come with experience.
As well as humble perhaps your lad is also wise... hit and not be hit. Yes the other guy might have been hurt but it looked like he did have some power and could have been dangerous. But as you say all this does come with experience although I do often think for some i.e. the best a lot of the ring craft just comes naturally. Tyson was superb (& relentless) at cutting the ring off and pretty much all of what Mayweather does looks to be natural 'instinct'
Thanks. There's more excitement and intent in those 3 photos than there was in the entire 12 rounds of the Anthony Joshua fight yesterday.
I see big Joe got leathered last night. Shame, seems a likeable bloke in that murky world. But I did wonder if you could go all the way with a granite chin alone. Seemingly not. Maybe a good thing. I think Wilder could have really hurt him….
I didn't see the fight but just some highlights. Some quotes from Big Joe perhaps give insight. "I'm just disappointed with my performance," Joyce told BT Sport. "The right hand he kept hitting me with... I couldn't get out of the way, so respect to Zhang. "I expected to win like I normally do. Thanks for all the support and congratulations." Zhang seemed to hit him with incredible power. Rumours abound that Fury will fight Usk soon, Joshua will fight Wilder and the winners will meet in a decider all held in Saudi. If Fury beats Usk I'd expect him to retire unless he was offered gazillions to fight Joshua at Wembley a fight he would be pretty sure of winning.
It’s time Fury got busy again. I’m a big Fury fan but he’s been dining out on the Wilder trilogy too long now. I didn’t particularly like his daft outbursts against Usyk either. Going on what you said above, I’d imagine Wilder would spark Joshua. Not sure about Usyk Fury but probably Fury… Fury v Wilder IV? They’re gonna be too old at this rate
Agreed, Fury gains nothing risking unified belts (if he won against Usk) with another fight against Deontay. Fury might want to put the Joshua fight to bed to ensure no one ever said "what if " (plus the cash might be huge) and he would be confident of winning that bout.
I see Zhang was a southpaw... and Joyce was honest enough to admit he didn't have the ring craft to cope with him.
Wasn’t just the right he couldn’t get away from! Outclassed in every area from where I was sat (at home).
Agreed. Completely outclassed. It’s put him on the map and with the long arms a deep pockets in China I see a big bucks Fury fight in China on the cards.
Fury needs to lace up his mouth as well as his gloves and get back in the ring asap. If Joshua fights Wilder and stands there like a statue as he did in his last match, he’s going to get driven into the floor like a nail by one of those huge overhand rights. Unless they make the Fury v Joshua fight, I don’t see where AJ can go now tbh. Dillan Whyte? It was a shame about Joyce, but sooner or later his go-to game plan of trying to wear out the other fighter's fists on his head was going to come a cropper. He’s a nice fella, but I find him v frustrating to watch, as it’s like those dreams where you’re fighting someone, but it’s as if you’re punching through treacle. I’d like to see Wilder v Usyk because they’re such different fighters. Brutality v finesse.
I don't think many actually want to fight Fury - he's way too big & messy in the ring and he has the ability to make a mental mark on his opponents. Just ask Wilder. AJ has been found out & has shown odd behaviour at the end of both of his last two fights.... not the way of a champ imo. And as you say Joyce just isn't up to the grade. And what has Wilder done recently? I recall he bombed someone out in 30 seconds or so but has he done anything since? So perhaps you're right... Wilder v Usyk or Fury v Uysk are the fights to look out for.
Yep. He's an absolute giant who moves like a middleweight, can fight southpaw and wears his oppos out with clinching, plus he's got a chin and heart to spare. Due to his religious faith and coming back from that mental breakdown, he also seems to genuinely believe that he is invincible. It's a formidable combination. Did you also see that incident where someone was taking the piss, shouting at him out of a window, and rather than ignoring it or making a joke out of it, he went up to their flat and confronted them? The guy who'd mugged him off melted like an ice cream, but if he'd been some clown who fancied his 15 minutes of fame and pub bragging rights by taking a swing at AJ, it could have turned nasty. Like how he carried on after the Usyk fight and again the other week, it suggests mental fragility and a lack of confidence. Helenius, last October. He knocked him out cold with a fairly innocuous looking pull counter in the first round. I don't know if you noticed, but Helenius sort of looks like a Poundshop Fury, as if Wilder was using him as a kind of voodoo doll or a way to exorcise his demons.
He also does that horrid frustrating child like stuff by leaving his arm out straight with his massive fist in your face. Exactly - I didn't see the incident with a punter but just what an earth was he thinking or trying to prove (to himself?). Ha-ha-ha
Apparently an announcement will soon be announced regarding Fury, AJ, Usyk and Wilder. About time. I don’t particularly like Eddie Hearn and Matchroom but they seem the most likely to put something together. Good to see UKAD have handed Conor Benn his arse too.
And quite a lot of borderline naughty stuff besides - neck holding, head rubbing, pushing oppos onto the floor, hitting on the break. It all adds up. https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/boxing/anthony-joshua-defends-confrontation-students-27361516 I can kind of see his point, and tbh, I quite often find myself in situations where I give someone a piece of my mind but afterwards have a word with myself because if things had turned physical it could have jeopardised my career. I'm also not 32, 6'6" and a former world heavyweight champion, so I could very easily end up getting a good hiding Unfortunately, my boy has the same character trait and one of the reasons he'd been out of action for a while was due to getting injured fighting with someone in the street who tried to head butt him, but he dodged it and gave the guy two right handers in return. The first knocked the guy over but the second, delivered as he was on the way down, didn't land cleanly and badly broke and dislocated his thumb, which needed two operations to sort out. A couple of years ago he also chinned a bouncer who was manhandling his mate, ended up rolling around the floor with 3 other doormen* and then ended up in the police cells, but thankfully rather than charging him, they only gave him an £80 fixed penalty. He's quite lucky really, as one of my brothers did something similar when he was in his 20s, but rather than calling the cops, they took him round the back the club and beat the bejesus out of him. * I've got video of it on my phone along with a copy of the FPN ticket, which, when I need to, I use as kompromat by threatening to send it to his mum, who doesn't know about the incident.
