The way Joe Joyce trashed Joseph Parker in Manchester tonight will terrify most of the heavyweight division, Elliot Worsell writes.
PERHAPS the scariest thing about fighting Joe Joyce is that at some point in the fight, his opponent experiences what would normally be considered his best round, only to later realize that it was, in fact, his worst round. .
Ultimately, it will be reframed this way because by landing a lot of clean shots on Joe Joyce, 15-0 (14), you tend to do two things: One, you turn him on, wake him up and possibly even piss him off. And, two, it invariably means that you will soon have to receive something in return, usually with interest. It’s at that stage, unfortunately, after you’ve gotten carried away with hitting this figure lumbering towards you, you feel like you’ve been tricked, tricked, tricked by a real monster. It is at that stage, even if he wins the battle (ie the round itself), he knows that he is on his way to losing the war.
This is a sentiment experienced by most of Joyce’s opponents to date and one with which Joseph Parker, her latest victim, is now also familiar. He, like the 14 who came before him, found himself alternating between moments of hope and sheer despair tonight (September 24) in Manchester before eventually, and perhaps inevitably, a Joyce left hook snapped him out of his wits. misery in round 11.
Until then, Parker had been through the ringer, or simply a test, both psychological and physical. He got off to a positive start in the first round, using his faster hands to good effect, and showed early signs that he trusted the game plan constructed by his trainer, Andy Lee.
However, it was then, in the third round, that Parker, building on the solid foundation he had created, got overly excited and, to his detriment, began landing punches he didn’t necessarily want to land. This meant that he was exploiting the holes in Joyce’s defense, no doubt a good thing, but it also meant that he was, in turn, snapping Joyce out of her trance and inviting him into the kind of exchanges that Joyce, given her engine and physical, it is never saved. He is likely to come in second place.
And so he proved it again tonight, especially in the third round, when Parker’s momentum was shattered and thrown back at him, ensuring he would never be the same for the rest of the fight. His movement from then on would never be so smooth, his blows were never thrown with the same conviction or impact, and the ring, this ring that he needed to expand instead of shrink, had suddenly never seemed so small. and restrictive.
For Joyce, of course, this was all part of the plan, if there is such a thing with him. Knowing only one way, he moves one way (forward), and fights the same way every time, knowing no one at heavyweight can replicate it, match it, or hope to live with it. His mind and his game plan are simple, and there’s something to be said for keeping it simple. After all, a clear mind tends to lead to a clear path. As such, nothing is ever complicated, neither in Joyce’s mind nor in the ring. This freedom then allows him to express himself in the only way he knows how, in the only way he can, and to do so without a hint of anxiety or strain.
It is more than, too. Because in addition to being blessed with the ability to keep things simple and therefore ensure that your heart rate is no different in the ring than it is when you wake up in bed, Joyce is blessed with bone density thicker than that of a average human being and would seem, at times, insensitive to shock and any kind of pain. Arguably, as much as anything he does with his own fists, it eats away at his opponent’s ambition, confidence and resolve, for the only thing worse than being hit by a heavyweight is hitting a heavyweight and not seeing it. no impact. . That’s usually when a heavyweight takes a deep breath and realizes he’s in for a long, grueling night. It is then that they begin to harbor doubts about themselves, the greatest opponent of all.
Joyce, arguably the toughest heavyweight out there, takes this idea to the extreme. You see him take hits and you don’t even care about the impact of him anymore, taking his toughness for granted just like he does too. One day, I’m sure, it’s only natural, we’ll be amazed at what happens when a punch lands on Joe Joyce’s chin, these things have a way of getting to you, but for now, he makes it work for him. One can even say, such is his reputation, opponents these days are beginning to doubt his ability to make a dent in him, a no doubt paralyzing thought when he is about to go 12 rounds in his company. .
Presumably, that was something Parker feared going into it, and then something he had no choice but to accept as the fight progressed. Because, unlike fights against, say, Dillian Whyte or Dereck Chisora, other British aggressors, tonight he couldn’t keep Joyce honest or stem the steady stream coming at him. There were, for Parker, moments of success, and he occasionally landed the kind of punch that had floored Whyte and Chisora ​​in previous fights, but all of these moments really managed to wake up the man in front of him; this man who is somehow unable to equate being hit with any kind of crisis.
In fact, it was to Parker’s immense credit that he stuck to the task, impossible as it seemed, and kept working on something that showed no signs of slowing down, let alone breaking. His own toughness, something established long before this fight, allowed him to stay there, but never before had the New Zealander been forced to work at Joyce’s pace, and he had never looked so restless in the company of a British heavyweight, not with Chisora, or Whyte, or even Anthony Joshua, to whom Parker gave his WBO belt in 2018.
Point out why that seems obvious at first glance. However, there are also other things that make Joyce such a presence and such a problem for this current crop of heavyweights. For one thing, in the past we’ve often talked about big men, whether it’s the Klitschko brothers or someone like Nikolay Valuev, and the danger they pose from afar (by using their size to make the ring look huge), but, with Joyce, 6’6, we got our hands on someone who uses her size and build to make the ring smaller. He does this by choking opponents with long strides, before squeezing you with his arms and chest, and this unique approach manages to reduce his size, making him easy to hit, but at the same time increases his threat, as he’s always there, inside the box. scope. pressing on you.
Rest assured, as awkward as the Klitschkos were and as big as Valuev, there is no style as problematic for any heavyweight as a style like the “Juggernaut.” These big men, after all, are big men who need time and space to recharge, refuel and rest. The last thing they want, I can guarantee it, is to have those two things stolen, like Parker did tonight.
In order to reclaim time and space, he must keep Joyce away, which Parker attempted to do through various methods in Manchester. She initially tried it with her feet, then tried to throw and land the kind of shots that had humiliated previous opponents, but nothing seemed to work.
Half way through, in fact, the suspicion was that it would not be a single punch that would one day cause Joe Joyce’s downfall, but rather a perfect display of punches and moves (no small feat for anyone). . bulky heavyweight). That rules out Parker, too clumsy to execute such a thing, and possibly does the same to heavyweights like Dillian Whyte, Deontay Wilder and perhaps Anthony Joshua, who gain momentum by hurting an opponent rather than making him miss. .
The truth is, at 37 years old, and with a total disregard for an opponent’s punches, Joyce’s kryptonite is much more likely to be in the possession of someone who can create distance and maintain it; someone who can box and offer different angles. She thinks of Tyson Fury. Think of Oleksandr Usyk. They, instead of trying to chip away at him, a futile exercise, would presumably try to evade him and, who knows, they might do better than Parker, 30-3 (21), tonight.
Because poor Joseph Parker, despite all the punches he landed and all the courage he showed, ended up getting stopped in the 11th round by a left hook he never saw coming. I had seen and been able to read previous incarnations of this very Joyce coup, so telegraphed were they, but, by round 11, it had been broken down and chewed like gristle, changed to such an extent even the obvious things Joyce would seem suddenly inventive, shocking and cunning.
But of course that’s Joe Joyce’s magic trick, isn’t it? He doesn’t change. He instead changes you.
