_1664071886.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1)
There are easier ways to make a living.
It’s what comes to mind, but stronger, with each subsequent fight. Watching Joe Joyce climb the heavyweight ranks is an exercise in being impressed on the one hand and feeling sorry for world-class fighters who have signed up for a trip to hell.
What is it like being in the ring with a 6’6, 270 pound behemoth with an eighty inch reach, barely a bit of fat on him, with the engine to throw 70-100 punches a round?
What is it like to hit that behemoth, that aptly nicknamed “Juggernaut” with powerful flush shots, even the kind of blind hooks and uppercuts that Joyce couldn’t see coming, only to see Joyce shoot with the same level of nonchalance that one displays when crushing? flies at a picnic?
Joseph Parker, a former heavyweight champion who had never been stopped before last Saturday, can tell you what it was like. More than likely Parker, still feeling a lot of the punches Joyce dealt with every recovery step and breath he takes, can tell you if he’d do it again.
The fans were rewarded regardless. Nights like this may not make Joyce the first choice for future opponents right now, but what fan wouldn’t want more? Joyce-Parker was a great heavyweight fight. Two big men shooting at each other, leaving it all in the ring until one couldn’t give any more.
That’s what everyone gets to see, the fundamental appeal of boxing stripped down to its essence. With Joyce, it’s what we get on a regular basis. He is the best 37-year-old young heavyweight in the world. Will he get a chance to find out if he is the best heavyweight in the world?
Futures: Joyce is now positioned to be the mandatory challenger for WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk, but whether that can be next remains to be seen. There are easier ways to make a living. In Usyk’s case, that’s not the calculation. Usyk wants to unify the heavyweight crown next year. That means a fight with Tyson Fury. Fury isn’t the easiest day for anyone in the office, and that clash would pay off more. Joyce, who has shared a ring with Usyk before they were professional stars, is a legitimate obstacle to a big payday. If the WBO allows Usyk to unify first, Joyce waits.
Sure Joyce-Usyk would be fascinating. Can the master boxer, now in his 30s, hold off the bigger man for what would be twelve long rounds? What about Joyce-Fury? It would certainly be a great fight in the UK and one that will grow as Joyce continues to win. Joyce’s age means he doesn’t have forever, but he’s a stone’s throw away from his chances. Patience and victories will get you there.
While Joyce awaits a title shot, another fighter will soon be seeking a title in his third weight class.
Stevenson on tiptoe at 135
It was supposed to be a title defense. Instead, Shakur Stevenson left two alphabetic straps and the lineal Jr. lightweight throne in the balance and went out to dominate 2016 Olympic gold medalist Robson Conceicao with deft defense, a more offensive approach and striking game. low that Julio César Chávez would have had. admire.
Stevenson made more clean shots against Conceicao than he probably has against anyone as a pro, but he rarely made two in a row. He now comes down to lightweight at a time when Top Rank has a full locker in the division. World champion Devin Haney and former champion Vasyl Lomachenko are the two biggest names available and a clash with either could bring Stevenson closer to stardom.
Futures: It’s always been funny how many names were brought up as part of an epic future multi-man rivalry without considering Stevenson. Anyone who has seen him in person knew that he was climbing the ladder sooner rather than later and that lightweight probably won’t be his last stop.
Stevenson is a threat right now to Haney if Haney can also continue to make the lightweight limit. Lomachenko may get the first shot at Haney after Haney beats George Kambosos again (and let’s not even pretend that result). That could mean one of two things in the second half of 2023, assuming the lightweight business stays at home at Top Rank: Stevenson challenging one of the game’s most respected veterans or a clash of 20-something studs. There is no bad option there.
Cliff’s Notes…
Don’t be surprised if Keyshawn Davis is better than anyone else at lightweight in eighteen months. In a crop of potentially special talent around lightweight, Davis could be the bluest chip of them all…Amanda Serrano added another belt at featherweight. What comes next? A trip back down to lightweight for a rematch with Katie Taylor, the winner of Mikaela Mayer-Alycia Baumgardner at junior lightweight and Erika Cruz Hernandez for full featherweight unification are all good options. Hernandez hasn’t lost since her second pro fight.
Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Classification Board, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be contacted at [email protected]
