Joe Joyce admits taking the Zhilei Zhang fight was a mistake, and now he wants to rebuild toward another shot at Daniel Dubois.
Joyce was unbeaten when he first faced Zhang in April 2023. At the time, he was coming off major wins over Dubois and Joseph Parker, held the WBO interim belt, and was seen as one of the leading contenders for Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
That momentum disappeared quickly. Zhang stopped Joyce in six rounds, then knocked him out inside three rounds in their rematch five months later. Looking back, Joyce now says the decision to take those fights changed the course of his career.
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“Before I took Zhang, which was obviously a bad decision, I was WBO interim [beltholder] off the back of beating Dubois and Parker,” Joyce said.* “It’s just like a bit of a mistake that I’m going to rectify now.”*
The 40-year-old has lost four of his last five fights, including defeats to Derek Chisora and Filip Hrgovic, but he is now training with SugarHill Steward and returns on July 11 against Artem Suslenkov on the Murat Gassiev vs. Tony Yoka undercard in Moscow.
A rematch with Dubois, now the WBO heavyweight champion, remains a fight Joyce wants. But first, he knows he needs a strong performance against Suslenkov to make himself a realistic option again.
“I’ve got to deal with what’s in front of me first before looking too far ahead,” Joyce said. “I’m ready to show you what I’ve learned.”
Image Credit: Sky Sports