Joe Joyce v Zhilei Zhang preview: Joyce set to steamroll Zhang 

WBO interim champion and British heavyweight star Joe Joyce will face one of his greatest challenges yet in the form of Zhilei Zhang this Saturday at London’s Copper Box Arena. 

We preview both fighters’ chances below.

Joe Joyce

Joe Joyce is undefeated as a professional boxer, with his record standing at 15-0. ‘Juggernaut’ made a name for himself after winning a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and has since risen to fame in the UK. Joyce stands at 6’6 and has an incredible 80-inch reach, making him a formidable opponent.

What is rather eye-catching about the 1/10 favourite’s record isn’t just his 15 victories, but the method in which he achieved them, as well as who they were against. Joyce won by knockout/stoppage in 14 of his bouts, and he boasts wins over some of the biggest names in the division including Daniel Dubois, Bermane Stiverne and most recently Joseph Parker.

Joyce is the mandatory challenger to Oleksandr Usyk’s world title. If he can weather the storm this weekend then even his heaviest critics would agree that Joyce has a fair chance of pinching Oleksandr Usyk’s WBO heavyweight title.

The path to victory here for Joyce will be to utilise his one-shot power. This will involve wearing down Zhilei Zhang with a stiff jab, making sure to keep up his movement and stay fluid on his feet, before setting up a perfect power punch from his right hand.

Joyce is 1/3 to win by knockout/stoppage, but better value may be found in the round betting. When he is in form, Joyce can dispatch opponents swiftly and the odds of the bout being under 6.5 rounds is 6/4, which not only offers a fair amount of time but also covers a shock Zhang knockout in that timeframe.

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Zhilei Zhang

Zhilei Zhang is a Chinese professional boxer with a record of 24-1. His main edge in this bout is that he is a tricky southpaw, which can often expose weaknesses in even the best orthodox boxers. ‘Big Bang’ also stands at 6’6, which will make this a true clash of the titans.

Zhang comes into this fight off the back of his sole loss, losing by unanimous decision last time out against a true warrior in the undefeated Filip Hrgovic. Despite the unanimous verdict, it was a closely contested battle with just a couple of rounds separating the pair.

Zhang will enter the ring as the 11/2 underdog, but for a 39-year-old he has spectacular stamina, which should help him stay in the fight against Joyce. Zhang is also a silver-medal winning Olympian, although he won the medal eight years earlier than Joyce, in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The path to victory for Zhang will be in utilising his speed and movement to evade any potential heavy blows from Joyce. As well as this, he will need to draw Joyce into a false sense of security so he can land a power shot of his own while using his awkward southpaw stance to control engagements.

The Chinese heavyweight is 10/1 to win by knockout/stoppage and is also 10/1 to secure the win via the judges’ scorecards. The odds show that Big Bang is unpredictable, though since his last three wins have come via knockout, we would suggest you take the prior.

On balance, this bout will actually be far harder to call than the odds suggest, but bookmakers don’t pay out on a close fight, just the victor. The most likely outcome: a Joyce statement knockout, will likely unfold, but Zhang will certainly make that as challenging as possible for the rising British star.

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