Joe Joyce has suffered the first defeat of his professional career after a eye injury resulted in his fight with Zhilei Zhang being waved off in the sixth round.
Faced with a wait to fight WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk, Joyce put his WBO interim title on the line against Zhang, who controversially lost an IBF eliminator to Filip Hrgovic in August.
Although faced with one of the biggest tests of his career, Joyce had been tipped to come through, but a slow start ultimately proved pivotal as Zhang pulled off the upset in London.
The 39-year-old's southpaw style troubled Joyce from the opening bell and numerous huge left hands caused swelling around the right eye of the home fighter during the opening three minutes.
Joyce was badly rocked in the second, experienced the most trouble that he had been in during his time in the paid ranks, and although he improved in the third, his Chinese opponent could not miss with the left hand.
The referee had to call it off ✅
— Boxing on BT Sport 🥊 (@BTSportBoxing) April 15, 2023
Joe Joyce's eye was not in the best way ❌#FightNight | #JoyceZhang | 📺 BT Sport 1 pic.twitter.com/I4qox7QEgK
Zhang clearly took the fourth, yet Joyce responded with his best round in the fifth as he found himself needing to put a dent in Zhang with his eye now almost completed closed shut.
While Joyce survived a check by the doctor at the start of the sixth, that only encouraged Zhang to put his foot on the accelerator, meeting fire with fire with Joyce knowing that he was potentially one shot away from causing another check from the official and medical team.
Midway through the round, that is what transpired, the doctor advising the referee to call a halt to proceedings and forcing Joyce to accept the first setback of his professional career.
Zhang now becomes the mandatory to Usyk, although Joyce has the option of instigating a rematch with Zhang who will now be represented by the same promoter Queensberry.
Darren Plant
