Zhilei Zhang Believes He Could Put Joe Joyce Out of Commission
In his last performance, Chinese Interim WBO heavyweight champion Zhilei “Big Bang” Zhang (25-1-1, 20 KO’s) put a serious thumping on “Juggernaut” Joe Joyce (15-1, 14 KO’s). So much so that he stopped Joyce in the sixth round of the rumble. To Juggernaut’s credit, he never went down but was rather stopped due to the substantial damage inflicted on his right eye. Despite the swelling, there was not any significant injury suffered. Nevertheless, Zhang believes that he has a realistic chance of ending Joyce’s career in their upcoming September 23 rematch.
At least, these are the sentiments that he shared with ThaBoxingVoice in a recent interview.
“It looks like his eye is good, it’s healed but for some reason I believe that the eye injury takes some time to heal. You need to give yourself some time to recover from that eye injury . . . so, for me, it might be the same result as the first fight. But to Joe, it might be the last fight of his career!”
EYE FOR AN EYE?
Due to it never having been reported that there was any serious structural damage to the eye, outside of swelling, Zhang could be blowing things out of proportion. At the same time though, if Joyce cannot notably improve his game in the rematch, he very well could be hammered in the eye until there is a legitimate injury.
If this was the case, while he still may not retire, it could very well turn into an injury that haunts and hampers his career until its conclusion. On the other hand, maybe Joyce will change his game plan and come roaring back in the rematch and capture the win. Thankfully, no matter how this rivalry revolves itself, 3Kings Boxing will be here to supply the play-by-play!
