Via Barry Holbrook: Joe Joyce (15-0, 14 KOs) immediately named unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk after his 11th knockout win over Joseph Parker (30-3, 21 KOs) on Saturday night at AO Arena in Manchester, England.
Victory for Joyce earned him the interim WBO title, pulling him into pole position to challenge Usyk for his WBO title. It is possible that by the time Joyce gets to a title next year, Tyson Fury will be the man he faces for the WBO belt.
Joyce did a great job being the first to take down Parker, but it wasn’t easy. He had to fight hard and hit a lot of heavy shots to eventually trail Parker for an 11th-half equalizer.
In the 11th round, Joyce landed a perfect left hook to Parker’s head, sending him back on goal. The fight was halted when Parker couldn’t get up in time to get past the count.
If Parker had arrived in time, Parker would have finished him off immediately as he had gotten messy when he got up after the fight had stopped.
“It hurts, but I’m tough. I’m the Juggernaut,” Joyce said at the post-fight press conference about what it felt like to be hit by Parker.
“This is my niche pay-per-view fight with a big crowd and a big arena. Thanks so much to everyone who came.
“Usyk if he wants to play again,“Joyce said when asked who he wants to fight next. “Tyson Fury said he wanted a keepsake.”
For now, it’s likely Usyk won’t be the one to go up against Joyce. Fury will be much-loved to beat Usyk in February or March, and then it will be his responsibility to defend against Joyce if he doesn’t retire.
With Fury, he’s more interested in sticking around like Usyk, and it’s likely he’ll give up his titles and retire than deal with ‘Juggernaut.’
All the fanfare Fury used to defeat Deontay Wilder by leaning on him and throwing rabbit-like punches won’t work on Joyce. I fear that Joyce will finish Fury off the same way he did Parker and take him down.
Eventually, Fury will smell the coffee and realize that he doesn’t want any smoke from Joyce and will hang up his gloves rather than go out like Parker.
Joyce said: “Bryan Jennings was a tough 12 innings game. “I was hoping this fight wouldn’t last 12 rounds. That’s why I finished it because it was so hard. I had to dig in there.
“I’m glad it hit him with a left hook in the 11th minute. He knocked out seventh, but he held on and still came back.”
Parker looked ready to move on in the seventh round after Joyce knocked him down with a barrage of hits. I don’t know how Parker got through the round, but he’s been inefficient since then. Joyce got the best out of Parker, and then he was destroyed.
“No, but he knew it was going to be an uphill fight, but I guess he wanted it,” Joyce said when asked if Tyson Fury said anything to him after the fight. Also his relationship with Joe. I think he wants to fight,” Joyce said.
“I really want to fight Usyk. I just think they have amateur history from the past,” promoter Frank Warren said of who Joyce is to fight next. “Joe is a big man now, he has matured, and I think he will bring Usyk a lot of problems.
“Usyk is a very smart boxer, but I think Joe’s resilience, his stab, I think is going to give him a lot of problems. But it won’t happen. He won’t fight until next February or March, and that will be Tyson.
“But then the idea of this interim title, the WBO mandate would have to be served against him. No one can stop that. So he’s in a great position,” Warren said.
“It’s a good statement, and I want to make a statement,” Joyce said of his being able to knock out Parker, who was unstoppable in losses to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte.
“I did a better job. It shows my class and my level. I belong to this highest level. I had to dig in there. I thought. I don’t want to explode a pad because it’s 12 loops. I also want to increase the speed.
“I hit him with everything, and I feel like he won’t go through, and I think he will go all 12 rounds. I was so happy I hooked up with that left hook and dropped him.
“That’s what I’m doing when I practice in the game,” Joyce said. “He held and clamped a lot, making it untidy.
“Both are at the highest level,” Joyce said when asked which was the tougher fight for him between Fury and Usyk. “Both have strengths and weaknesses. Those are different fighters, so both are very challenging. They are the top level.
“Tyson Fury is taller, can tackle, shoots from long range, is very skillful. Usyk is the smaller one, nampaw. You know how good he is technically. I think Fury can be a bit more explosive than Usyk.
“Usyk is faster and has quick punches. But again, Fury is also very fast and put together. Both are really difficult.
“Dubois,” Joyce said when asked who hit harder between Parker and Daniel Dubois. “But similarly, Parker is slicker and a lot harder to hit.
“Dubois if you stand and trade with him and he lets one go, he can really hit. So great. Now, I get the credit I deserve from this fight. It makes me at the elite level.
“I’m happy. I enjoyed the fight. I won. I got an outstanding knockout.
“Make the war happen,” Joyce said of her message to Usyk.
