Joe Joyce has lost three of his last four – and didn’t look great in that one victory – but the 39-year-old heavyweight says the plan isn’t to retire, but rather to return to the ring.
“I’m not done yet. I’m still here,” Joyce told broadcaster Darren Rees during Saturday’s show at Wembley Arena headlined by Denzel Bentley’s win over Brad Pauls. “I’ve got some fights lined up. I’m real excited to get back in the ring and show people what I’m made of, and that I’m still here and I can still push it back into the top levels of the division.”
It could be an uphill climb to get back to those top levels.
Joyce, 16-3 (15 KOs), captured the silver medal at super heavyweight in the 2016 Olympics. He turned pro in 2017 and scored a huge victory in 2020, stopping Daniel Dubois in the 10th round after breaking Dubois’ eye socket. He continued to ascend, knocking out former heavyweight titleholder Joseph Parker in the 11th round in 2022.
Joyce’s nickname is “The Juggernaut,” and he has dressed up as the Marvel Comics villain. But wear and tear meant Joyce no longer had the same attributes as the comic book character, whose superhuman durability was further enhanced by a suit of armor.
Joyce has a style that features taking a ton of punishment in order to deliver his own. And he had absorbed so much punishment during his career that he no longer is as capable of taking it.
That led to a sixth-round stoppage loss to the heavy-handed Zhilei Zhang in April 2023 and a third-round knockout loss to Zhang in their rematch five months later. Joyce returned in April 2024 with a knockout win over Kash Ali in the final seconds of the 10th and final round. But he was sent to the canvas by Derek Chisora in July and lost a unanimous decision.
Joyce didn’t name any prospective opponents, but there are plenty of heavyweights alongside him on the Queensberry Promotions roster, including Chisora, Dubois, Tyson Fury, Moses Itauma, Lawrence Okolie, Parker, Fabio Wardley and Zhang.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.