Joe Joyce Makes Short work of Christian Hammer!
When most recently tossing leather in the ring, heavyweight boxer Joe “Juggernaut” Joyce (14-0, 13 KO’s) did so with German bruiser Christian Hammer (27-10, 17 KO’s). Heading in, there was little confusion that Joyce was the favorite to win. To date, Juggernaut has collected the scalps of Bermane Stiverne, Bryant Jennings, Daniel Dubois and most recently Carlos Takam. With his impressive tenth round stoppage of Dubois though, Joyce acquired the WBO International and WBC Silver heavyweight titles. Aside from being ranked #1 (WBO), #2 (WBC) and #6 (IBF), Juggernaut is also on a three-fight knockout streak.
Naturally, journeyman Hammer entered the ring with every intention of upsetting the applecart. Hoping that perhaps activity might play a role, the German was in his third fight of 2022 versus Joyce. While on the other hand, the secondary champion had been out of action for just about one full calendar year.
Unfortunately, Hammer lost the first match of the year versus the talented Frank Sanchez and only rebounded against the completely irrelevant Drazan Janjanin (22-35, 19 KO’s). While the German does have a number of notable names on his resume, he’s lost to virtually all of them. This is why his bouts with Hughie Fury, Luis Ortiz, Tyson Fury and Alexander Povetkin are double-edged swords. Sure, it was experience but not the kind that he wanted!
HUFF AND PUFFING BLUES
Overall, Joyce controlled the first period coming forward as the fight aggressor. He was able to do this while working behind a steady jab and throwing an impressive amount of punches downstairs. While Joyce did do more quality work, Hammer landed the best shots of the round in the form of two thumping looping right hooks. Juggernaut ate them well. Over the next two rounds, the same theme persisted. Joyce landed more regularly while Hammer scored more infrequently.
The pace was also causing the German great difficulty. In the closing moments of the third, it appeared that fatigue alone pushed Hammer to a knee. Then a solid right hook to the body put him on a knee again to begin the fourth. The challenger rose only to be beaten back to a knee about fifteen seconds later. Once again, the weary fighter soldiered on. It didn’t matter because Juggernaut hammered him down to one knee for the fourth and final time. On this occasion, the canvas referee Victor Loughlin called a halt to the action.
During the post-fight interview, Joyce expressed his interest in next facing the winner of Anthony Joshua versus Oleksandr Usyk or Tyson Fury, if he could be lured out of retirement.
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By: Bakari Simpson
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