Former cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew believes Deontay Wilder and maybe Anthony Joshua are the only men who possess the power to knock out Joe Joyce.
'The Juggernaut' earned plenty of plaudits in his latest display as he became the first man to stop Joseph Parker with a superb victory in Manchester this weekend. During the fight, Parker threw the kitchen sink landing some huge shots flush on Joyce who simply walked through them and continued to push a relentless pace throughout the contest.
Many were amazed by Joyce's 'granite' chin which has helped him remain undefeated since making the leap to the professional ranks. And Bellew believes his chin will continue to be soul destroying for future opponents who are unable to knock him down.
“Joyce is purely a problem because he’s going to be there,” Bellew told talkSPORT. “You won’t get rid of him, until the bubble bursts and someone does finally knock him out. I think the only guys who could knock him out potentially are Deontay Wilder or maybe AJ, I’m not even sure Fury could do it.
"He threw 800 punches on Saturday night and 600 of those 800 are not very damaging, they’re just taps, but if you keep knocking on a wall in the end it’s going to fall down. That’s what Joe Joyce does, he just keeps coming and he keeps that work rate going. He fights at a pace that most heavyweights just don’t do and they can’t keep with him.
"And then after you hit him with absolutely everything and this pace is just continuing, it’s a problem. If I was fighting him and you nail him with an absolutely perfect punch and he just goes ‘sound,’ and keeps going, its soul destroying it really is. That’s the best way of explaining Joe Joyce, he’s a soul destroying machine.”
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Wilder i s set to return later this month against Robert Helenius and could be a realistic opponent for Joyce, if the Briton is unable to assert his WBO title shot against Oleksandr Usyk. 'The Juggernaut' is hoping he can cash in on his mandatory status soon having become interim champion with his latest win over Parker, which was his second outing this year.
And Joyce believes he can do a better job than British rival Joshua against the tricky Ukrainian due to his superior engine and chin that has been praised by many in the sport. "I think Joshua is a different kind of boxer and different style," he told the Daily Mail. "He can throw more powerful shots but less of them than me.
"I’ve got a better engine than him, so it would be a different fight – especially with [Ismael] Salas providing me with a game plan. But it would be a tough fight. 'But let’s see what happens, there’s very exciting fights on the horizon for me and I’m in a good place."
