Joe Joyce

Bio

Right then — Joe Joyce is one of the most unusual heavyweights Britain has ever produced. A late starter who didn't turn pro until his thirties, The Juggernaut announced himself with a Rio 2016 Olympic super heavyweight silver and then bulldozed his way through the paid ranks on the back of a freakish workrate and a chin that, for years, simply would not break.

Make no mistake — the Joe Joyce story is one of the most watchable in the division precisely because he does everything the textbook tells you not to. He walks forward behind that battering-ram jab, he takes one to land two, and he drowns opponents in sheer volume until they wilt. The Daniel Dubois win, where he boxed brilliantly to a stoppage, remains his signature night on the world stage.

The two defeats to Zhilei Zhang were a proper reality check, and the questions about his chin and his age are fair. But class is permanent, and Joyce has kept himself busy and dangerous. With a slot already booked on the Moscow undercard, he now finds himself linked as a potential late replacement against Murat Gassiev for the WBA title — and if you know Joe, you know he'd take that fight in a heartbeat.