Once a breakthrough line, his name synonymous with everything from “slow” to “simple,” Joe Joyce now suddenly has the opportunity in 2023 to capitalize on his missteps. British rivals and prove that he is everything they are not: ambition, desire, honesty.
In fact, it’s a rise he’s been planning for a long time, and it’s currently coinciding with Anthony Joshua’s stutter and Tyson Fury’s stagnation. Slowly but surely, in keeping with his style, Joyce seems to have gained an edge over many of his opponents – who are below Fury and Joshua – simply by showing a willingness to fight any anyone in the department, most of them look like someone else and then perform as if boxing is, for him, the easiest thing in the world.
His interpretation of it is rarely pretty. Joyce’s moves aren’t the kind you want to teach young boxers in amateur gyms either. However, there is still something sane and frankly wonderful about the Londoner’s performance and one can only hope, despite his obvious flaws, that he will never change; not as a fighter, nor as a character.
One could also argue that in a sport that loves to make people dumbfounded and desperately wants to be accessible to even the simplest minds, Joyce, as approachable as they come, should be. is the constant gift for all the new fans it wants to attract. After all, his style is one that is easy to understand and, moreover, easy to enjoy.
However, Joyce, unlike the newcomers we allow in and simplify boxing, is someone with hidden depth and talent. He’s an arguably tough heavyweight like any we’ve seen in recent years and, worse yet, for potential opponents, he possesses a physique common in the world. featherweights rather than heavyweights. He also has pedigree, as a world-class amateur athlete and Olympic silver medalist, and he has underrated fundamentals that people choose to ignore like he tends to do it himself sometimes.
On the surface, and if you don’t know what you’re looking at, he’s a heavyweight, easy to read and therefore easy to beat. However, the truth is that Joe Joyce has turned simplicity into an art. He’s shown the world that there’s no need to complicate things, whether it’s in the ring or sitting at the press table, and he’s shown that breaking something down into the essentials. is probably the fastest route to consistency.
Certainly, as we enter 2023, Joyce’s simplicity and honesty seem to me like liferafts in rough, dangerous and unreliable seas. With him, you at least know what you are getting and can be sure that he will deliver. To him, his words carry weight and, while perhaps not the most complex or creative, get you from point A to point B without having to read between the lines, check the truth or second guess what is being said. Because Joe Joyce, unlike his peers, is a man of trustworthy words and a man whose actions are solely to advance his boxing career; manipulating stories and others, a skill he has, fortunately, uninterested in learning.
In that sense, old fashioned, Joyce delivers exactly what you want from a boxer in 2023. He chases the toughest fights, he always fights the same way and so far. , with 15 wins on his professional record, he often ends these matches in pretty spectacular fashion. For example, his last game, the Joseph Parker knockout in the 11th round in September was a heavyweight and knockout as good as any we’ve seen in 2022. Other heavyweights, who couldn’t do it with Parker, would have dined at such a place for years, while Joyce, after knocking out the New Zealander, just shrugged, took a breath and ask who will be next in line for him.
As it turns out, it will be China’s Zhilei Zhang, 39 years old pursuing Joyce’s heart. Six feet tall and painfully slow in both arms and legs, Zhang, like Joyce, has the physical stamina and fighting spirit that has helped him outmaneuver faster and more technical fighters. He, like Joyce, brings a unique personality to their fight in London on April 15, which will make pre-match press conferences as engaging as they are hard to watch.
In short, because of that, that’s what “Juggernaut” is all about and has been since day one. There is always an awkwardness in his manners and his attempts to play other people’s games (talking, selling, etc.), which when others seem very confident in their ability to talk, lie, and exaggerate, can only be considered refreshing. It also speaks volumes about his fighting prowess, so much so that even with absolutely no chance of promotion, Joyce, at 37, is still the hottest ticket in town as we start the year 2023, especially against the backdrop of British heavyweights.
And how could he not be? Tyson Fury, number one in the world, is only interesting if he takes on the next Oleksandr Usyk, a fight that is all the more urgent after his drunken affair with Derek Chisora last December, and Anthony Joshua, while That person, who has been loved by the British public for so long. voluntarily backed down by choosing to fight Jermaine Franklin in April. Furthermore, the personalities of both Fury and Joshua have over the years been produced and adapted to the point of becoming caricatures, a fate that Joyce, refusing to change, was somehow able to avoid. . It makes Fury and Joshua’s words harder to believe and it makes their fights – or events – harder to accept at face value. It also makes it hard for you to accept the fact that we’re in 2023 and they’ve never even shared a ring.
In contrast to them, Joyce, despite her faults, feels like someone you really know; a complete, fully formed person. More importantly, he feels like someone you can trust.
Joe Joyce (James Chance/Getty Images)
