Zhilei Zhang has caused a huge upset in the world of heavyweight boxing by stopping the previously undefeated Joe Joyce, nicknamed the “Juggernaut”, in London this morning.
Zhang, a Chinese southpaw, stated before this highly anticipated fight that Joyce, who has enjoyed 14 knockouts in his previous 14 professional fights, including one over New Zealander Joseph Parker last year, had made a mistake by agreeing to the bout.
Joyce is the first man to stop Parker as a professional.
And Zhang's prediction came to reality when the fight was called off with 96 seconds remaining in round six after Joyce’s right eye was swollen shut from the constant pounding from Zhang’s powerful left hand.
“Just getting hit by his left hand over and over,” Joyce told UK’s TalkSport afterwards about the reason for his defeat. “I couldn’t get away from it. It was quick. He’s strong and powerful and experienced.
“When you take risks sometimes they don’t go your way. I’ll be back, it’s not the end of my journey.”
He said he was open to a re-match. “I haven’t fought a southpaw for a long time. I’ll have to review the tape.”
Referee Howard Foster made the decision to stop the fight after advice from a ringside doctor. Earlier, in the break before the round started, Joyce was asked whether he could see Zhang’s left hand coming and he replied “yes”, although it sounded unconvincing.
This defeat is a huge blow to Englishman Joyce who has made his reputation on having the strongest chin in the division allied with one of the highest workrates, with Zhang now becoming the mandatory challenger to the WBO world title held by Oleksandr Usyk.
Joyce struggled to cope with the angles that left-hander Zhang, the same height as Joyce at 1.96m, attacked from, with his opponent’s left hand landing with devastating regularity.
Zhang, ranked No.13 by the WBO coming into the fight, scored with his left as early as the first round, and he clearly won the first two – the only worry for a fighter who tends to fade late in fights was how good his conditioning was.
In the end it didn’t matter.
The 39-year-old now has a professional record of 25-1-1.