British heavyweight Joe Joyce has beefed up considerably for his clash with Kash Ali this weekend following two defeats to Zhilei Zhang.
Joyce, who previously scaled a career-high 281 for the Zhang rematch, came in at 286.8 for the Ali bout. That’s thirty pounds more than Joyce weighed in the first fight with Zhang.
“The Juggernaut” is living up to his name, increasing his bulk in the last three events. For Zhang, Joyce weighed 256 and looked in the shape of his life despite losing in six rounds. Tactics were firmly to blame the first time around. However, Zhang took advantage in the return at Joyce piled on the pounds to stop the Olympic silver medalist three rounds earlier.
Joe Joyce weighs heaviest ever
With Joyce putting on another five pounds when he already looked out of sorts against Zhang in September, the Londoner is opening the door to give also-ran Ali a chance. 32-year-old Ali heads into the bout on Saturday night on the back of the worst defeat of his carer. The unheralded Bohdan Myronets inflicted a second defeat on Ali following a farcical biting incident against David Price.
In 2019, Ali was thrown out of the Liverpool contest for munching at Price’s chest. During the aftermath, Ali claimed racial abuse from the Liverpool crowd was to blame for making him see red despite not being able to provide any evidence.
Ali’s lawyer stated then: “Mr. Ali mentioned that this was the first time he had been on the big stage before such a large audience. He only had four weeks’ notice, and he was, therefore, under a lot of pressure.
“It was his first time involved in a press conference. He had to deal with his father passing away, who had always been in his corner previously and a calming presence for him.
“He had never experienced such ugly and shocking racial abuse before in a walk to the ring. But he confirmed that the racial abuse continued during the fight. While acknowledging that Mr. Price had not been racially abusive at all, it was his supporters that had been.
“The frustration eventually got to him, and Mr. Ali admitted to biting Mr. Price in both the third and fifth rounds. He expressed great remorse. He apologized to Mr. Price immediately after the bout and in a subsequent interview.”
Toothless
Ali may fancy his chances against Joyce without needing teeth as the pair prepare to trade blows at Resorts World Arena in Birmingham.
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