There’s plenty at stake in the heavyweight boxing battle of Britain between Joe Joyce and Derek Chisora at London’s O2 on Saturday night. The result has the potential to usher Chisora into retirement or Joyce into irrelevance in the wake of his two defeats to Zhilei Zhang in 2023.
Unsurprisingly given the bout concerns fighters known by aliases of ‘The Juggernaut’ and ‘War’ neither man is expected to take a backward step, with the fight just 2/9 to end inside the distance. However, there’s value to be had in opposing both that wager and the 4/9 about a Joyce KO win.
Joe Joyce vs Derek Chisora best bets
Rounds completed – Over 9 @ 6/5
Joe Joyce to win on points @ 9/2
Bet on the latest Boxing odds at Betzone
Chisora chin, heart and durability being criminally underrated
Joyce is just 1/4 to claim victory over Chisora by any means and as discussed above those means are strongly suspected to be stoppage. That narrative is easy enough to evidence with 15 of The Juggernaut’s 16 professional wins coming inside the distance.
However, even if the KO success Joyce desperately needs to turn his career back in the right direction transpires he’s likely to have to go into the championship rounds to get it.
Chisora has lost a sizeable 13 of his 47 pro fights, but just four of those defeats have come inside the distance and a solitary one – a fifth round KO against a David Haye in his devastating prime – came before the 10th round.
Joyce may have earned a lengthy knockout reel in the lower reaches of the professional game, but Chisora has taken Oleksandr Usyk to points and Tyson Fury 10 rounds inside his last six fights.
Given The Juggernaut was stopped twice by Zhang last year there has to be a potential that he too could succumb to a stoppage, but Chisora’ last two wins have both come on the scorecards and he hasn’t recorded a KO success since dispatching the notoriously chinny David Price back in 2019.
Rounds completed – Over 9 @ 6/5
Distance win more than satisfactory for man with most to lose
There can be no doubt Joyce has more to lose in this match-up. Chisora has forged a lucrative second act in his lengthy career as a stern, durable but ultimately beatable gatekeeper for heavyweights with world championship ambitions.
For The Juggernaut, though, defeat would be disastrous.
A stylish stoppage victory offers a way to show that he’s shaken off the aftereffects of that double setback against ‘Big Bang’ Zhang and still rates a potential future dance partner for the Anthony Joshuas of this world. However much, much more important is that he does not lose.
As such it’s highly possible that Joyce might be a little more pragmatic that his nickname would have us believe and he could likely outbox Chisora quite comfortably if he establishes the piercing jab that scythed down Daniel Dubois when the pair clashed back in 2020.
Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist Joyce needed all 10 rounds to stop journeyman Kash Ali last time out suggesting he may need to be patient to get past the game-as-you-like Chisora.
With his career on the line he certainly won’t be intending to take any unnecessary risk against Chisora and the odds about the Juggernaut boxing his way to a points verdict look too long.
