Joe Joyce weighed 281.2 lbs, while Derek Chisora weighed 256.7 lbs at Friday’s weigh-in for their 12-round headliner this Saturday, July 27th, at the O2 Arena in London. The event will be shown live on ESPN+ in the U.S. and TNT Sports in UK.
Joyce’s weight is a concern because he’s fought in the 280s in his last two fights against Kash Ali and Zhilei Zhang and looked slow in both contests. ‘The Juggernaut’ Joyce would have been better off coming around 250 to pick up some badly needed speed.
Promoter Frank Warren views Saturday’s heavyweight clash between Joyce and warhorse Chisora as a defining moment for them. The loser’s career could end, whereas the winner moves on to bigger and better things.
Both of these guys are up there in age, and it’s difficult to see either of them progressing, no how good the winner of this contest is. The 17-year-old professional Chisora has lost many fights recently and likely would have retired long ago if he weren’t paid so well for his UK fights.
Chisora in a Must-Win Situation
If Derek were fighting in the U.S., he wouldn’t make it onto a card, even in the bottom spot. The standards are too high.
Chisora claims it won’t be the end if he loses to Joyce, but will he still be given headliner gigs after this? I think not. What promoter on earth would want to stick Chisora in a headliner spot if he gets blown out of the water on Saturday by Joyce?
Joyce (16-2, 15 KOs) believes he will finish the 40-year-old Chisora (34-13, 23 KOs) when they meet for their 12-round contest at the O2 Arena in London.
“It’s a tough fight. It’s a defining moment for both of them. They’re in a fight where one of them is going to move forward, and the other one is not going to be in such a good place,” said promoter Frank Warren to BoxNation about this Saturday’s clash between Derek Chisora and Joe Joyce at the O2 Arena.
A Bleak Future for the Loser
Chisora and Joyce are two of a kind. Joyce, 38, isn’t as bad off as Chisora, but he’s very close. He’s looked 100% awful in his last three fights since 2023, losing two and looking very slow.
If Joyce is victorious, he’ll still have major problems if he’s put in with a decent heavyweight with power because his hand speed has deteriorated in the last year, and his punch resistance has disappeared. Zhilei Zhang destroyed Joyce in consecutive fights in 2023, and even Kash Ali had him looking shaky in spots last March.
“He comes to fight. I said a couple of years ago that he should retire,” Warren said about Chisora. “He wants to prove me wrong, and we’ll see if he does. He really feels he’s got a lot of juice in the game, and he feels he has what it takes to beat Joe.”
Chisora describes himself as an “entertainer,” and he’s certainly that. However, that’s not enough to attract fans if he loses 90% of the time, and he sounds like he’s not all there outside of the ring.
His chances of beating Joyce are slim on Saturday unless The Juggernaut can no longer take a shot without nosediving, which is highly possible. I don’t see it happening, but that’s the one interesting thing about the Joyce-Chisora fight. Does Joyce still have a chin?
“Up until those two fights against Zhang, he was the guy that everybody wanted to avoid,” said Warren about Joyce. “He was the guy who stopped for the first time Joe Parker, who has come back in a sensational way. He’s gotten himself back in the game, and Joe will be trying to do the same.”
The way that Zhang obliterated Joyce in those two fights in 2023 took away any belief fans and the media had him challenging for a world title. Joyce looked washed up in those two fights, and that was confirmed in his last contest against British domestic-level heavyweight Kash Ali.
This was a guy that any fighter in the division worth their salt would blast to the moon in one or two rounds, but Joyce labored before stopping him in the tenth. He looked purely awful in that fight. Hence, Joyce finds himself fighting Chisora in a fight where both fighter’s careers are on the line. It’s the last chance saloon for these two, where the loser will be sent to skidrow and need to scrap for a living in a tent city on the sidewalks.
“For both of them, it’s an important fight and landmark to where they’re going to wind up. It’s where their career is. Is it going to end at the top echelon or not? One of them, that’s going to be the case,” said Warren.
