{"id":289565,"date":"2023-09-22T08:34:32","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T08:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=289565"},"modified":"2023-09-22T08:34:32","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T08:34:32","slug":"exclusive-joyce-on-weight-loss-sparring-southpaws-tactical-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/exclusive-joyce-on-weight-loss-sparring-southpaws-tactical-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Joyce on weight-loss, sparring southpaws &amp; tactical changes"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>EXCLUSIVE: Joe Joyce opens up on his drastic weight-loss for his first fight with Zhilei Zhang, how his defeat will actually OPEN the door to other top heavyweights and the tactical changes he&#8217;s made ahead of his rematch this weekend<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Joe Joyce will go toe-to-toe with\u00a0Zhilei Zhang for a second time this weekend\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Joyce weighed in at 256lbs in April, while the Southpaw weighed in at 278lbs\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Joyce has been sparring more southpaws and plans to make &#8216;small&#8217; changes\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Joe Joyce\u00a0reveals why he weighed in so light for his first fight with\u00a0Zhilei Zhang and opened up on the tactical changes he will be making for their rematch this weekend.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 38-year-old British heavyweight dropped a drastic amount of weight ahead his first fight with Zhang in April &#8211;\u00a0tipping the scales over a stone lighter than in his previous bout.<\/p>\n<p>Joyce, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist, weighed in at 256lbs for his heavyweight clash with the Chinese southpaw, while Zhang tipped the scales at 278lbs for the bout.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Joyce, who was visibly leaner as he took to the scales at the weigh-in, came in 15lbs lighter then his fight with Joseph Parker &#8211; then tipping the scales at 271.6lbs, six pounds heavier than his fight against Christian Hammer before that.<\/p>\n<p>The Juggernaut was not planning to weigh-in so light and explained how he went into camp &#8216;at fight weight&#8217; and struggled to consume food after long and grueling sessions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/08\/69833055-12548285-Joe_Joyce_left_has_dropped_over_a_stone_for_Saturday_s_clash_aga-a-2_1695367317517.jpg\" height=\"438\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Joe Joyce (left) reveals why he weighed in so light for his first fight with Zhilei Zhang (right)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/08\/69833185-12548285-Joyce_puts_his_WBO_Interim_World_Heavyweight_title_on_the_line_a-a-1_1695367315432.jpg\" height=\"429\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Joyce dropped over a stone for his first fight with the Chinese heavyweight in April<\/p>\n<p>Joyce says his weight wouldn&#8217;t have been a talking point if he had beaten Zhang, but insists he is looking to come in heavier for their rematch this weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Speaking exclusively to Mail Sport, Joyce said:\u00a0\u00a0&#8216;No there wasn&#8217;t [a reason behind coming in much lighter than his previous fight]. I had a pre-camp before Christmas which was a three week training camp. That went well and then over Christmas, I wasn&#8217;t eating badly and I was being active so when I went into camp I was already at fight weight.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Then obviously with the training I did, I just stripped more weight off. It was quite hard to eat as well given how late my sessions were ending. It was hard to keep the weight up.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Normally Salas wants my weight lower but for Zhang, who is a big heavyweight, it was probably too low. I don&#8217;t know, if I had won the fight and had good footwork and head movement and beat him, people wouldn&#8217;t be criticising my weight.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;They would be saying &#8216;ah that&#8217;s why he was able to move around like that or whatever&#8217;. But, it didn&#8217;t really pan out that way.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;People were looking for problems or reasons for why I lost. They were pinning it on one thing. But, before the fight, everyone was saying I have this unbelievable chin and that I can&#8217;t be knocked out. It didn&#8217;t really help me &#8211; I got my eye bashed up instead.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>However, Joyce felt his weight would have given him the advantage over Zhang in the later rounds if his eye wasn&#8217;t bashed up. He said the Chinese heavyweight was &#8216;starting to slow down and take backwards steps&#8217;.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He told Mail Sport:\u00a0&#8216;There was an AI scoring system which someone showed me and it revealed how many punches were being thrown and how many punches were landing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/08\/75718709-12548285-image-a-5_1695367674002.jpg\" height=\"430\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Joyce doesn&#8217;t regret fighting Zhang despite losing his WBO Interim World Heavyweight title<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/08\/75718707-12548285-image-a-4_1695367673362.jpg\" height=\"398\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Joyce (pictured with Frank Warren) will be looking to get revenge against Zhang this weekend<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It showed that I was landing over 100 punches a round or something. As the rounds continued and it went in the later rounds, I&#8217;d have out pointed him with the amount of shots I threw and the punches I landed if I didn&#8217;t knock him out.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;If it wasn&#8217;t for the eye and I had of carried on, I would have got in there and probably beaten him later on. He was starting to slow down and take backwards steps.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless,\u00a0Joyce believes his loss to Zhang is a &#8216;blessing in disguise&#8217; and says it will open the door to other heavyweight boxers as they will feel they can beat him after watching his performance in April.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When asked whether he regretted his first fight with Zhang, Joyce said: &#8216;That&#8217;s a tricky one. Would I preferred to have not lost and fought someone easier. It&#8217;s a difficult one.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I have the rematch now and it&#8217;s going to be a bigger fight but it&#8217;s a hard test and a hard challenge. It also adds to the story. I don&#8217;t know. If I could do it all again, would I have taken it? It&#8217;s a difficult one to answer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Winning the rematch is going to be even sweeter. It might even make some people more willing to fight me since they can see I can be beaten. But, if I was beaten comfortably, certain fights wouldn&#8217;t come about. So it could be a blessing in disguise, especially if I win the rematch.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Joyce is confident he can beat Zhang during this weekend&#8217;s rematch at\u00a0Wembley&#8217;s OVO Arena and blames a &#8216;last minute change of strategy&#8217; for his defeat in their first fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Joyce also spoke about how he spent more time boxing southpaws in this camp as he realised the &#8216;defence and the attack is completely different&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A post shared by Queensberry (@queensberrypromotions)<\/p>\n<p>A post shared by Joe Joyce (@joejoyceboxing)<\/p>\n<p>The Juggernaut said:\u00a0&#8216;I&#8217;ll be making minor tweaks [rather than an overhaul in tactics].\u00a0There was some strategy last minute that Salas got me to do to stay away from his lead hook and his lead left jab.\u00a0But, then I hadn&#8217;t practiced it enough to get away from the left backhand.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Zhang is a very good counterpuncher so whenever I was engaging with him at range, he would be countering me with the left hand as I was bringing my guard back.\u00a0Just as I punched, he was throwing before I could get my guard back.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Yeah I just feel like I needed more time. Zhang is a natural southpaw. He&#8217;s been fighting orthodox fighters his whole career.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;In his previous fight, he fought Hrgovic &#8211; who has a very similar style to mine. So, he was much more prepared for me than I was for him.\u00a0Going back into camp, I needed to do some more practice with a southpaw stance. The defence and the attack is completely different.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/boxing\/article-12548285\/Joe-Joyce-opens-drastic-weight-loss-fight-Zhilei-Zhang-defeat-actually-OPEN-door-heavyweights-tactical-changes-hes-ahead-rematch-weekend.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>EXCLUSIVE: Joe Joyce opens up on his drastic weight-loss for his first fight with Zhilei Zhang, how his defeat will actually OPEN the door to <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/boxing\/exclusive-joyce-on-weight-loss-sparring-southpaws-tactical-changes\/\" title=\"EXCLUSIVE: Joyce on weight-loss, sparring southpaws &amp; tactical changes\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-289565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-boxing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>EXCLUSIVE: Joyce on weight-loss, sparring southpaws &amp; 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