BY: Sean Crose
Derek Chisora was through. Such was the figurative word on the street. Joe Joyce hadn’t impressed in some time, but it was assumed he wasn’t at the low point of his career that Chisora was. Hence, the two heavyweight contenders stepped into London’s O2 Arena on Saturday for what fans an analysts expected to be an entertaining bout, but a bout which would end in a Joyce victory nonetheless. Things however, did not go as planned. Not that Joyce did poorly in the scheduled ten rounder between himself and Chisora. He did quite well, actually. Chisora, however, was simply more impressive.
Oh, and the fight was a war. Such a war, in fact, that it may end up being considered for Fight of the Year when 2024 winds down. No, neither man looked to be in his prime, but these were two fighters who were ready, willing and able to leave it all in the ring. Joyce moved forward and fired away with heavy shots, while Chisora used years of experience to maneuver away from those shots as effectively as possible while landing well on his own when the opportunity arose. Still, the forty year old’s face looked a mess as Joyce’s steady onslaught began to take its toll.
Things came to a head in the ninth, for Joyce’s landed shots began to clearly rattle Chisora. Indeed, the two time championship challenger looked to be just about through. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Chisora put Joyce on the mat. It was, simply put, Ricky Balboa level stuff. Joyce got up and the bout ended up going to the final bell, but it would be hard for anyone to say that one fighter had clearly gotten the best out of the other.
The judges ended up ruling for Chisora, putting an exclamation point on what has been nothing if not a colorful and hard fought career. With that being said, neither Chisora nor Joyce should allow themselves to go through such searing combat again.