CHINESE heavyweight Zhilei Zhang thinks the career of Joe Joyce will end if they meet again.
The two men look set to face one another in September back in the UK five months on from their original fight in April.
Joyce activated a rematch clause to ensure he gets another crack at Zhang and to re-establish himself as a heavyweight force. However, at 37-years-old a second consecutive loss could be a potential disaster for ‘The Juggernaut’.
“I would have chosen to fight one or two interim fights if I was him,” Zhang told ProBox TV
“I don’t know why his team is in such a rush to make it happen. I feel like his team made a mistake for the first fight, and now they’re probably going to make the second mistake, and if I beat Joe Joyce again his career’s going to end.”
The 40-year-old Zhang is in fact proof that age is just a number. He bounced back to beat Joyce after a controversial loss to Filip Hrgovic but the manner of his victory in two months ago was one-sided and damaging.
Joyce, who is known to use his iron chin to block many of an opponent’s punches, used the tactic once too often against Zhang. The 2008 Olympic silver medallist soon found a home for his heavy left hands and Joyce has since admitted he struggled with Zhang’s southpaw stance. Round after round the Brit was hit by the same shot which helped cause enough damage to Joyce’s right eye and led to the contest being waved off midway through round six.
“Their team didn’t do comprehensive homework on what I do; what I am,” Zhang said.
“They need to study me more. That’s the mistake. They underestimated me.”
