Joe Joyce Will Face Kash Ali On March 16

Joe Joyce will return to the ring against Kash Ali on March 16, 2024.  

Joyce wants to bounce back from his consecutive defeats to Zhilei Zhang as he lost his WBO interim heavyweight belt. The defeat meant he could no longer challenge the winner of Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk for undisputed.

The manner of the defeat was troubling since Joyce’s biggest asset was his chin. After the defeat, speculation increased that he could retire from the sport. It would be a long way back for Joyce since he was not in the conversation to get the biggest fights in Saudi Arabia. Despite this being the case, Joyce shut down suggestions he was retiring. 

Joyce’s Retirement

“Joe is an elite warrior who constantly challenges himself against those at the top level of heavyweight boxing – he has one of the best CVs of any active heavyweight. He lost to an elite world-level fighter in Zhilei Zhang but will continue to challenge at the top level. We will meet as a team this week together with [promoters] Frank and George Warren and plan the way forward,” SJAM Management said

Now Joyce faces Ali, whose record stands at 21-2. His last fight was a decision loss to  Bohdan Myronets in July. He is hardly the type of opponent to get Joyce back at the top of the division. Joyce’s former opponents, in comparison, have made huge strides.

Daniel Dubois, Zhang and Joseph Parker have secured fights in Saudi Arabia. Dubois beat Jarrell Miller by stopping him in the tenth round. Parker secured a big win over Deontay Wilder by beating him via a unanimous decision. As for Zhang, he has secured a fight with Parker on the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou card. 

But Joyce does plan on fighting three times this year. He has potential rematches against Dubois and Parker since they may want to avenge their losses to him. Since Dubois is with Queensbury, that fight is much easier to make. The ultimate intention for Joyce is to get himself on a major Saudi card so he can expand his profile with the aim of a title shot. His following comments confirmed as much. 

Joyce’s Aim

“It’s water over the bridge after my defeat against Zhang now and I’m looking at steps ahead and Zhang meanwhile can continue what he’s doing and I aim to get back into the ring in March for an easier fight and then once I get back in there and if I win, then I’ll come for these big heavyweight fights.

“I would fight anyone of them in Daniel Dubois, Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker. “There’s a lot of interesting fights out there these days, especially with what is happening in Saudi – there’s plenty of great fights but I need to get comfortable winning again and then go for a big test,” Joyce said 

Before Joyce can do all that, he must secure a win over Ali this March. And there is no getting away from that.

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