Joe Joyce Vows To Destroy Underdog Zhilei Zhang-‘Big Bang, Silly Zhang, You’re Going To Get Banged’
Zhang arrives as a massive underdog
On Saturday, 15th April 2023, Zhilei Zhang (24-1-1, 19 KOs) takes on the WBO interim heavyweight champion Joe Joyce (15-0, 14 KOs) and arrives as a heavy underdog.
Joyce’s reputation precedes him, having developed an iron chin that can put up with the best of them. Despite Joseph Parker giving as good as he got, Joyce was able to walk down the Kiwi before knocking out Parker in the eleventh round.
In truth, that victory propelled him into the conversation to face the biggest names, including Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
The latter even called out Joyce during the infamous staredown between Usyk and Fury following the Gypsy King’s victory over Dereck Chisora.
Although Joyce looks at the peak of his powers, adopting the same tactics of absorbing Zhang’s power punches may prove unfruitful.
In his last outing, Zhang, aged 39, faced his first loss after a highly dubious 12 rounds unanimous decision in favour of Filip Hrgovic in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
On another day, Zhang was deserving of the win, as his southpaw stance caused Hrgovic all sorts of problems.
When speaking about the challenges posed by Zhang, Joyce was confident he would get the job done: “I’ll listen to my corner and be the ‘Juggernaut’ and walk through the fires and use my own flames to heat up my opponents.
“I haven’t fought a southpaw since I broke a record in history for the Commonwealth. Big Bang, silly Zhang, you’re going to get banged by the Juggernaut.”