It isn’t an exaggeration to say that Joe Joyce’s career was on the line tonight. Last year, the 38 year old heavyweight had his aura of invincibility well and truly shattered by China’s Zhilei Zhang

Joyce could lean on the fact that he lost his first fight with Zhang because a ringside doctor ruled that his eye injury was too bad to continue fighting with but he was clinically taken out in the rematch last September. A third successive defeat would have dealt his hopes of getting back to the top a catastrophic blow. 

On the other hand, Kash Ali, 21-3 (12 KOs), had everything to gain. A massive underdog best known for a disqualification loss for biting David Price, the 32 year old had the opportunity to insert himself into a thriving heavyweight division with a shock victory.

Rather than ploughing forward, Joyce felt his way into the fight. He followed the retreating Ali around the ring, pawing with heavy but slow shots. 

One of the major questions that needed answering tonight was whether Zhang had done irreparable damage to Joyce’s previously cast iron chin or whether it was simply a case of styles making fights. During the second and third rounds, Ali bounced a series of right hands off Joyce’s head to seemingly little effect. Ali doesn’t have the same snap or speed to his punches but Joyce was able to walk through them. There may, however, be an element of concern that Ali was able to land them so regularly. 

It was a methodical performance from Joyce who began to warm into the fight midway through the third round. There was precious little quality on show but slowly but surely, ‘The Juggernaut’ began to roll forward.

The rounds began to follow a pattern. Ali would move, poke with his jab and wing in the occasional shot before invariably being backed into the ropes where he would cover up, absorb a clubbing shot or two to the arms and body and then move away again. Joyce kept moving forward but didn’t try to establish his jab and his right hand was constantly out of range.

At Friday’s weigh in, Joyce tipped the scales at 286lbs and looked to be carrying every single one of them. Finally, Joyce began to up the tempo in the seventh round. He got his feet closer and kept his hands moving, stabbing away to the body with hard straight punches and making Ali work at a pace he was uncomfortable with. 

Ali’s right hands had dried up by the eighth round and the Birmingham-born fighter was in survival mode. As Ali’s gas tank quickly emptied, Joyce continued to grind away. Ali wasn’t hurt by any punch in particular but the constant thudding shots were taking their toll on him. He looked close to the finish during the ninth round but survived and just as the finish line was within site, he was dropped by a short right hand. Ali got up at ten and a half and the fight was waved off.

The ending came at 2:53 of the 10th and final round. 

Joyce, 16-2 (15 KOs), is a winner once again and will look for a big fight against a big name. Whether a performance like that is good enough to trouble them is another thing. 

Zach Parker has been linked to a whole host of elite operators over the past few months but knew that his hopes of snaring a big name at super middleweight or light heavyweight would vanish if he took his eye off the ball against Germany’s former WBA champion, Tyron Zeuge, 27-2-1 (15 KOs).

Parker, 169lbs 3oz, comfortably outpointed Zeuge, 173lbs 14oz, over 10 rounds at the Resort’s World Arena in Birmingham but didn’t make the statement he would have liked. 

Parker, 24-1 (17 KOs) has been close to a big fight before. In November 2022 he was favoured to beat John Ryder in their interim WBO super middleweight title fight. Things couldn’t have gone much worse. A badly broken hand forced Parker out of the fight after just four rounds and he had to sit and watch as Ryder went on to challenge undisputed 168lbs champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

The switching hitting Parker moved around the ring in the opener, easily evading Zeuge’s lounging right hand and looking to establish his jab.

The second round opened with a real shock. Parker was stung badly by a right hook to the chin as he tried swaying away from an attack by 31 year old Zeuge. He stayed upright but didn’t recover and Zeuge kept punching until the Englishman touched the canvas. Parker was clearly shaken by the knockdown but rather than committing to a finding a finish, Zeuge followed Parker around the ring and loaded up with that looping right hand. 

Parker attempted to box his way back into the fight in the third but his defence was loose and leaky and he seemed extremely wary of tangling with Zeuge at close range. His chin was lifting as he skirted away from the shots. Parker was playing a risky game.

The 29 year old from Derby found some rhythm in the fourth and fifth. Boxing almost exclusively as a southpaw, he found a home for his jab and began to mix his punches up well to head and body. Zeuge was dangerous with his overhand right but Parker seemed to have acclimatised to the power and the German’s lack of sharpness after just five fights in over five years was beginning to tell.

By attempting to take all of the drama out of the fight, Parker had assumed full control by the start of round seven. Zeuge’s only answer for Parker’s constant movement was to wing in those overhand rights and lefts. Having been dropped by one of them, Parker was much more aware of the danger. He was still leaving his chin in the air as he moved away from the shots along the ropes but wisely clinched and negated Zeuge when the two came close.

The fight became increasingly messy as the tired Zeuge swung away and Parker jabbed, and moved as the ninth round ended, Parker seemed to twist his ankle and had little choice but to dispense with his movement in the final round. Despite having an injured fighter in front of him, Zeuge fought with precious little urgency and the fight petered out.

After 10 rounds Parker was awarded a unanimous decision and the scores were wide. 96-94, 97-92 and 98-91.