By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten British heavyweight Joe Joyce will be taking on veteran and former WBC Champion Bermane Stiverne of Haiti in a 10-round clash this Saturday, Feb. 23rd at the 02 Arena in London. The bout can be seen live in the USA on Showtime while fans in the UK can see it on ITV Box Office. Joyce last fought in December when he stopped Joe Hanks in the first round for the vacant WBA Continental Heavyweight Title. Stiverne’s last fight saw him get blown out by WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder in their rematch in November of 2017.
Stiverne held the WBC title until Wilder beat him via unanimous decision in 2015. The 41-year-old has been very inactive as he fought just once in 2012, 2013 and 2014 with two bouts in 2015, none in 2016,one in 2017 and none last year. His ring rust was quite evident in the rematch with Wilder as he was finished before the first round was over. He’s risking the same outcome here in London on Saturday night.
He may have fought more as he was scheduled to meet Alexander Povetkin of Russia a couple of years ago, but the fight was called off when Povetkin failed a drug test. Stiverne climbs into the ring with a record of 25-3-1 along with 21 Kos. He lost his title in a spirited fight against Wilder, but after the bout claimed he was suffering from dehydration. Stiverne’s other loss was a fourth-round stoppage by Demetrice King in July of 2007.
The Haitian stands 6-feet-2-inches tall and has a wingspan of 76 inches, giving up four inches in height and three inches in reach to Joyce. Stiverne has 108 rounds under his belt since turning pro in 2005 and has an impressive knockout of 72 per cent. However, he hasn’t scored a knockout since stopping Chris Arreola in the sixth round back in 2014. Stiverne has also beaten the likes of Ray Austin and Derric Rossy he now has a questionable chin as he’s been stopped in two of thee losses, but his boxing skills are generally underrated by many.
Joyce is no kid either as he’s 33 years old and didn’t turn pro until late in 2017. The native of London enjoyed a fine amateur career with gold medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2015 European Games. He also took home a silver from the 2016 Olympics in Brazil in the super-heavyweight division when he lost the gold-medal match to Tony Yoka of France. Joyce owns a perfect record of 7-0 with all seven wins coming by way of knockout.
It’s obvious he has some power in his fists, but his opponents so far have been Ian Lewison, Rudolf Jozic, Donnie Palmer, Lenroy Thomas (for the Commonwealth Heavyweight Crown), Ivica Bacurin, Iago Kiladze and Joe Hanks. However, each one of them did have winning records. Joyce is 6-feet-6-inches tall with an 80-inch reach. His boxing skills haven’t been on show very often as he has four first-round Kos on his record as well as one in the second stanza and he’s boxed just 19 rounds since turning pro.
Prediction…
This is a big fight for Joyce since it’s against a recognizable opponents. Although it’s one who’s 41 years old, has been inactive, and was destroyed in the first round the last time out. If Joyce hopes to become a legitimate contender he has to beat Stiverne. The jury’s still out on the Londoner since he’s never been tested and he could be in over his head here. He’s either going to look out of his league and lose to the more experienced Stiverne or will easily beat him in a non-competitive fight. I can see this going either way to tell the truth and won’t be surprised by any outcome, but prediction-wise I’ll go with Joyce since he’s been more active.
