By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten British heavyweight Joe Joyce will be taking on veteran Bryant Jennings of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in a 12-round bout in Joyce’s home town of London this Saturday, July 13th. The bout can be seen live in the UK on BT Sport 1 while fans in the USA can catch it on ESPN+. Joyce last fought in may when he stopped Alexander Ustinov in the third round. Jennings’ last bout took place in January when he was stopped in the 12th round by Oscar Rivas for Jennings’ IBF International, and WBO NABO Heavyweight Titles.
Joyce is 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 9-0 with all nine of his wins coming by way of knockout. He stands 6-feet-6-inches tall with an 80-inch reach and it’s obvious he has some power in his fists with a 100 per cent knockout record.
His opponents so far have been Ustinov, former WBC World Champion Bermane Stiverne, Ian Lewison, Rudolf Jozic, Donnie Palmer, Lenroy Thomas, Ivica Bacurin, Iago Kiladze and Joe Hanks though, but each one of them did have winning records. Joyce’s boxing skills haven’t had a chance to be showcased very often as he has four first-round Kos as well as one in the second stanza and one in the third and as boxed just 28 rounds since turning pro. The Commonwealth Champion also won the vacant WBA Gold Heavyweight Title with his win over Stiverne in February and his win over Hanks in December was for the vacant WBA Continental Heavyweight Belt.
Jennings is now 34 years old and enters the ring with a mark of 24-3 along with 11 Kos. His three defeats as a pro came at the hands of Rivas in January, former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine by unanimous decision in April, 2015 and Luis Ortiz then stopped him in the seventh round in his very next fight eight months later and won the interim WBA Heavyweight Title. Jennings has won his five of six fights since then with four of them coming by KO. However, he has basically faced journeymen during that span and was stopped by Rivas.
Jennings stands 6-feet-3-inches tall and has a good reach of 84 inches. This puts him three inches shorter in height than Joyce but he has a four-inch reach advantage. Jennings’ long arms allow him to keep his opponents at bay with a stiff jab and are also useful defensively. However, he often doesn’t let his hands go enough for the physical attributes that he owns. He usually waits too long to go on the attack and that’s what hurt him against Klitschko. He was stopped by Ortiz and Rivas as well as dropped in the fourth round by Dimitrenko and it appears he can’t take a punch like he used to.
As far as experience goes, Jennings turned pro back in 2010 and has fought 160 rounds since then. He isn’t the hardest hitting heavyweight around and owns a current knockout ratio of 52 per cent. His best wins have been against the likes of Dimitrenko, Joey Dawejko, Artur Szpilka, Mike Perez, Steve Collins, Chris Koval, Andrey Fedosov, Bowie Tupou, Siarhei Liakhovich and Maurice Byarm. Jennings didn’t get involved in boxing until later in life and had a short amateur career with a mark of 13-4. he was a national Golden Gloves runner up in 2009 and has also won the USBA Heavyweight crown as a pro.
Prediction…
Jennings often appears to be his own worst enemy since he can be too cautious even though he possesses the skills of an elite boxer. He needs to let his hands go and take advantage of his reach advantage over Joyce as well as his experience. Jennings has been running out of steam in recent fights though and now looks to have a somewhat questionable chin. This certainly isn’t going to help in a bout with an opponent who owns a 100 per cent knockout ratio. This is an interesting matchup and one I think Joyce will win if he is the aggressor.
