Joe Joyce went from first-round knockout by Anthony Joshua to Juggernaut of the heavyweight division

Joe Joyce’s rise from “Slow Joyce” – the amateur who used to get beat up by Anthony Joshua – to the danger man of the heavyweight division is remarkable and unexpected.

The undefeated Briton, who takes on the towering Chinese Zhilei Zhang live on talkSPORT on Saturday, has become the president of boxing “Who Needs Him?” club. Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, Deontay Wilder and Joshua all call each other out – and even fight sometimes – but none of them really want to fight Joyce.

Joshua and Joyce are former sparring partners, but AJ is the one who has become one of the faces of the heavyweight division

You can understand why. But it’s a stunning change considering where Joyce was when he turned pro late at age 31 in 2017, a noted amateur but widely known to be firmly in Joshua’s shadow.

AJ stopped Joyce in the first round of their only amateur contest, an ABA final in London. “I would do the same today! Nothing has changed,” Joshua tweeted optimistically in 2022.

However, things have changed. Should Joyce fight Joshua later this year, it would be Joyce who would start the fight as the bettors’ slight favorite.

Leaked fight footage of AJ beating Joyce when the pair were British athletes together has been derided by Joyce as a flattering video edited by Joshua’s team. But the stories you hear from all of their many fight streaks confirm that Joshua almost always had the upper hand.

The young boxer was certainly Britain’s No. 1 choice, winning silver at the World Championships and then gold at London 2012. Joyce, who became Britain’s top super heavyweight only after he ‘AJ turned professional, also had a decorated amateur career. But it seemed telling that his best medals (world bronze, Olympic silver) were exactly a cut below AJ’s.

Joshua looked the most explosive, dynamic, quickest and most athletic fighter. However, at this point in their career, it is – unexpectedly – Joyce who seems to be the most dangerous professional heavyweight.

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Joe Joyce – Twitter

He wants the big names in boxing, but doesn’t understand why they don’t want to face him

The soft-spoken, 6ft 6in Londoner – who has a college fine arts degree and only started boxing when he was 22 – has other qualities to recommend him. An apparently granitic chin as a professional, a formidable engine, an innate self-confidence and heavier hands than it seems.

In fact, with 14 knockout wins in 15 fights, Joyce has a 93% knockout ratio – better than Fury, Usyk, Joshua and even Wilder. Part of that is the greater length and quality of this quartet’s boxing careers, of course. But Joyce did not feast on companions.

He’s been hard-matched from the start, taking on the tough Ian Lewison on his professional debut. Joyce also won as an underdog – when he beat previously undefeated banger Daniel Dubois – knocked out teak-resistant Carlos Takam faster than anyone, then became the first fighter to stop Joseph Parker after a memorable war. Last year.

Parker went the distance with Joshua and Dillian Whyte. It is this KO11 victory that seems to sum up Joyce’s qualities. Not all boxers live up to their nickname, but “Big Juggernaut” fits Joyce like a glove (or iron helmet).

He is relentless, snarling forward and denying space to his opponents, pressuring them as a fight unfolds in a way rarely seen in the heavyweight division. Joyce’s feet aren’t quick but he positions them well. He possesses a muffled and precise blow which is what he used to bludgeon the less experienced Dubois.

It’s a remarkable difference between Joyce in 2023 and his former amateur rival/teammate Joshua. While Joyce seems absolutely comfortable in his pro style, knowing exactly what he needs to do to defeat an opponent, AJ seems stuck between being an aggressive puncher or a Klitschko-type long-range boxer – and unable to mix both styles.

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Joyce could land a fight with Tyson Fury if he passes his next test against China’s Zhilei Zhang

The other major contrast is what happens when they get hit. Even countered by Jermaine Franklin, Joshua looked troubled. When Joyce is hit, it tends to have the opposite effect, pulling him out and bringing him back to life.

Joyce tends to start fights slow, which wouldn’t help if he ever faced a heavyweight with Wilder’s extraordinary power. This fight has unstoppable force against a pull for an immovable object – but the real fight for Joyce is trying to get these guys in the ring.

Assuming he gets through Zhang – who has only suffered one disputed defeat – Joyce is 37 and time is not on his side. He may be the freshest of the world’s top five heavyweights in ring wear, but he’s also the oldest (a month ahead of Wilder).

“Usyk won’t fight me because he says I’m a tank,” Joyce told Steve Bunce in the build-up to Saturday’s fight. “Fury mentioned my name – said I’m the No. 2 heavyweight, so let’s do this fight. Or alternatively, AJ needs a way back…Wilder also looks good.

Richard Pelham / The Sun

Not one to shy away from a challenge, Joyce thinks the heavyweight division needs to see the best fight the best

“It has to go back to what Mike Tyson said: don’t worry about losing, you have to have those big fights. If everyone is fighting everyone else, then it’s something fun.

Joyce, unlike the quartet he aspires to fight, has never held a world heavyweight championship belt. But his self-confidence appears as solid as his chin – in direct contrast to the struggles Joshua endured.

“When I was in Team GB, I wasn’t a threat to him,” Joyce admitted to the Metro a year ago. “As a pro he was always here and I was there so it was about catching up. Now we’re on the same level…he sees me as that threat.

Joshua is not alone there. The man he used to bounce for fun in amateur fights may still seem too easy to hit. But as his relentless progress through the heavyweight ranks has shown, there’s absolutely nothing easy about sharing a boxing ring with Joe Joyce.

Joyce vs Zhang is live on talkSPORT on Saturday April 15

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