Derek Chisora isn’t expected to make it past the halfway point against heavyweight Joe Joyce in their 12-round headliner this Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London. The 40-year-old Chisora (34-13, 23 KOs) is seen as having too many miles on him to last long against ‘The Juggernaut’ Joyce (16-2, 15 KOs).
(Credit: Queensberry Promotion)
Joyce-Chisora will be shown on ESPN+ and TNT Sports. Both heavyweights are in a position where they need a win. At this point in their careers, whoever has the better punch resistance will come out victorious.
Chisora, 40, can still punch despite his age but can’t block or get out of the way of the shots. When he was in his prime a decade ago, he would have been a serious threat to a fighter like Joyce, but not now.
“Chisora takes a lot of punishment. He’ll give one and take four or five back in return,” said commentator Duke McKenzie to talkSport Boxing, discussing Saturday’s fight between Joe Joyce and Derek Chisora. “He’s going to get stopped.”
“They’re going to meet in the middle of the ring and go for it from round one,” said Spencer Oliver. “From a fan point of view, it’s going to be a barnstormer. It’s going to be the one that still has punch resistance, or the one that doesn’t have punch resistance is going to be the one that comes unstuck early.”
Chisora has won two fights in the last two years, beating Gerald Washington and Kubrat Pulev, but both of those guys were in their 40s and were nothing like they once did.
“It can’t go past six rounds,” said McKenzie. “Derek Chisora doesn’t have six rounds in him, and if what you’re saying is true that they’re going to meet in the middle of the ring and have a good old-fashioned punch up, then someone is getting knocked out.
“Derek Chisora doesn’t have a lot left. He’s not a tactician. He’s durable, though. Joe Joyce is so heavy-handed. He’s going to hit Chisora, and he’s going to go over. I just hope the referee is on point. If it goes four rounds, I’ll be shocked. I just don’t think Chisora has got four rounds in him.”
Chisora has nothing left, but he can still win because Joyce can’t take a punch anywhere had will be easy to hit on Saturday night. With Chisora’s power, he could finish what Zhilei Zhang started.
“You don’t want to see the guy get hammered, and he’s going to get hit. At least Joe Joyce can block a few shots,” said McKenzie.
Chisora doesn’t have any choice because his defense isn’t good enough for him to evade shots in its fight.
“In Joyce’s last fight against Kash Ali, he stopped him in the tenth round, but he labored in that performance and didn’t look particularly good there,” said Oliver.
