April 16, (THEWILL) – Zhilei Zhang, the 39-year-old Chinese heavyweight, dealt a heavy blow to Joe Joyce’s hopes of a world title shot by handing him his first professional career loss.
The Juggernaut, as Joyce is known, was left with a swollen eye and staggered several times as Zhang overpowered him. Referee Howard Foster had to intervene and call the contest off after the ringside doctor examined Joyce’s injury. This defeat was a significant setback for Joyce, who was the mandatory challenger for Oleksandr Usyk’s WBO title and hoping for a potential fight with Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua.
Joyce, a 2016 Olympic silver medallist, therefore, surrendered his WBO Interim belt to Zhang in the sixth-round technical knockout. He apologised to his fans and supporters for the defeat but vowed to come back stronger, saying his “journey is not over.”
Zhang, who won the silver medal in the 2008 Olympics, declared the victory as his own and vowed to go for the title. “Today belongs to me, belongs to everyone who showed up, belongs to every Chinese fan who showed up,” he said.
Despite being 39 years old, Zhang said he was disciplined and trained hard, and this was just the beginning of his journey towards the title.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
