Joe Joyce

Joe Joyce (born 19 September 1985) is a British professional boxer.

He held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) interim heavyweight title from 2022 to 2023.

Born on 19 September 1985 to a Scottish-born Irish father and a mother of Nigerian origin, Joyce grew up in London and studied at Elliott School, based in Putney.

He took up boxing at the age of 22, having his interest in track and field athletics curtailed by injuries, and joined Earlsfield ABC, based in Earlsfield, London.

Joyce is on record saying ‘I don’t really like boxing, but I enjoy doing it’, highlighting the fact that he was not a big boxing fan growing up, and only started watching some of the greats after getting into boxing properly.

Joyce obtained a BSc degree in Fine Arts at Middlesex University in 2009; he graduated with Upper Second Class Honours.

Joyce won the super heavyweight class at the 2012 ABA Championships and 2012 GB Amateur Boxing Championships.

As an amateur, he won a bronze medal at the 2013 European Championships; gold at the 2014 Commonwealth and 2015 European Games; bronze at the 2015 World Championships; and silver at the 2016 Olympics.

He currently holds a 93% knockout-to-win percentage.

He won the bronze in his class at the 2013 European Amateur Boxing Championships after getting KO'd by defending Russian champion Sergei Kuzmin in the semifinal.

He competed in the men's super heavyweight division at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where he won the gold medal.

He also won the title at the 2015 European Games in Baku.

He had success during 2015 and 2016 in the World Series of Boxing, and in April 2016 won a gold medal at the European Olympic trials to qualify for the Olympics.

On 21 August 2016 Joyce won the silver medal in the super heavyweight class at the 2016 Summer Olympics, losing in the final, via a controversial split decision to Tony Yoka of France.

It was the final medal won by Team GB at the Olympics.

In 2017, Joyce has displays with the Art of the Olympians.

Joyce turned professional in July 2017 at the age of 31, signing with Hayemaker Ringstar.

On 6 September 2017, an official announcement was made for the first boxing event which would take place at indigo at The O2 in London on 20 October 2017.

Haye confirmed that Joyce would headline the card, making his debut against former British title challenger Ian Lewison (12–3–1, 8 KOs).

Joyce put on an impressive display in a hard earned victory.

Promoter David Haye spoke to Metro after the bout stating he offered British heavyweight champion Sam Sexton a career-high payday to fight Joyce next, but hadn't heard anything back.

He also offered David Allen a fight, who turned it down to rematch Lenroy Thomas.

Haye hoped to get Joyce back in action on the undercard of his rematch with Tony Bellew in December 2017.

On 2 November, Joyce confirmed that he would fight on the Tony Bellew vs. David Haye II undercard on 17 December.

Two days later, British boxer Tom Little (10–4, 3 KOs) was announced as his opponent.

At regional level, he has held multiple heavyweight championships, including the Commonwealth title twice between 2018 and 2021; the British title from 2020 to 2022; and the European title from 2020 to 2021.

The event was rescheduled to 5 May 2018.

On 30 January 2018, Hayemaker Ringstar announced that Joyce would make his next appearance at the York Hall in London on 16 February against 25 year old Croatian boxer Rudolf Jozic (4–1, 3 KOs).

On 3 February, whilst backstage at the O2 Arena in London for Lawrence Okolie vs. Isaac Chamberlain, Derek Chisora met with Haye and Joyce, where Chisora revealed Haye had contacted his manager Steve Goodwin and offered £60,000 for him to fight Joyce.

Chisora later stated if the money was right, he would fight Joyce on the Tony Bellew vs. David Haye II card on 5 May 2018.

Joyce knocked out Jozic in the first round after landing a right hand to the head towards the end of the round.

When the result was announced, the timekeeper included the 10-count, announcing the time of stoppage as 3 minutes and 6 seconds.

After the fight, Haye stated a new six-figure offer would be presented to Chisora, which would see him earn around the same purse he received in his loss to Agit Kabayel.

On 1 March, speaking ahead of his next fight at the York Hall on 17 March against Donnie Palmer, Joyce stated that Chisora had rejected the offer to fight him.

Joyce knocked Palmer out inside the first minute of round one at the O2 Arena.

On 24 March, after Chisora knocked out his French opponent Zakaria Azzouzi and then called Joyce and Haye over during his post-fight interview with Sky Sports.

Prior to calling them over, Chisora referred to Joyce as a Chihuahua.

Chisora first asked Haye if he had confidence in Joyce and then stated, "In front of the British public on live television, I’ll make a deal with you right now: if he (Joyce) beats me you write me a cheque of £1, if I beat him you give me your purse against Tony (Bellew) and your TV rights."

Haye rejected the offer.

Chisora then told Haye to not mention his name again.