Zhilei Zhang closes Joe Joyce’s eye, scores stunning sixth-round knockout

A new player at heavyweight has arrived.

Zhilei Zhang, a southpaw from China, used a punishing left hand to close the right eye of Joe Joyce and force the ring doctor to stop the scheduled 12-round fight in Round 6 at Copper Box Arena in London, giving Zhang the biggest victory of his career.

The previously unbeaten Joyce was on the cusp of his first title shot. That’s gone for now. And Zhang, a fringe contender going into the fight, is now a legitimate opponent for anyone.

“Today belongs to me,” Zhang said through a translator in the ring. “It belongs to everyone who showed up, it belongs to every Chinese who showed up.”

Joe Joyce swollen eye resulted in his first defeat. James Chance / Getty Images

The key to Zhang’s success wasn’t complicated: The 6-foot-6, 280-pounder couldn’t miss his straight left from beginning to end, which rattled Joyce a several times and began to cause swelling on his eye after only a few rounds.

Zhang (25-1-1, 20 KOs) landed 78 of 140 power shots (56%), according to CompuBox. And almost all of them were left hands.

Joyce (15-1, 14 KOs) was never out of the fight. The Londoner, also 6-foot-6, began to outwork Zhang beginning the third round. He arguably won Rounds 3 through 5.

However, he admitted afterward that he couldn’t avoid Zhang’s left. As a result, the ring doctor was summoned to ring to examine the eye between Rounds 5 and 6 then again midway through the final round because it appeared the eye was almost completely closed.

The doctor whispered something into the ear of referee Howard Foster, who then stopped the fight. The official time of the stoppage was 1:23 of the sixth round.

Joyce seemed to be dumbfounded during his post-fight interview.

He was in a strong position to face either of the heavyweight titleholders, countryman Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine, in his next fight. Now he must go back to the gym and begin the rebuilding process, which presumably will include work on his defense.

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“He hits hard,” Joyce said. “And he has an awkward style because he’s a southpaw, and a powerful southpaw at that. I just kept getting hit with his left hand. I’m disappointed. I apologize to all my fans and supporters.

“… I’ll be back. My journey isn’t over. This might be a hurdle I tripped over but I’ll be back.”

Meanwhile, Zhang made history.

The 2008 Olympic silver medalist, who is based in New Jersey, gave a strong performance in a losing cause against contender Filip Hrgovic last August, which pumped life into his career and earned him a shot at Joyce.

Then, on Saturday, he turned in the performance of his life to take Joyce’s WBO “interim” belt. That made him the first Chinese heavyweight to hold a world title of any kind. And he did it at 39 years old.

Now he can target Fury and Usyk.

“I’m 39 years old but I’m disciplined,” he said. “I train hard. The next step, I’m going for the title.”

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Story originally appeared on Boxing Junkie