Fight Club: Joe ‘JJ’ Joyce is gunning for gold in Doha

Andy Lewis 08:32 05/10/2015
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  • Joyce is a major medal hope for the British team which has travelled to Doha for the AIBA World Championships.

    British heavyweight boxing is seemingly in good health with Tyson Fury slated for a world title fight and Olympic gold medallist Anthony Joshua continuing to bulldoze his way effortlessly towards the top of the rankings.

    Another talented Brit is up next for Joshua in the shape of Dillian Whyte, while ex-heavyweight title holder David Haye is still flirting with the idea of a comeback. 

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    This week, however, one fighter with a significantly lower profile begins his quest to bring more glory to the ranks of the British big men. 

    Joe ‘JJ’ Joyce, a 6ft 6in, 17 stone giant, is major medal hope for the British team which has travelled to Doha for the AIBA World Championships.

    In total, 260 contenders from 74 countries have gathered in Qatar as amateur boxing’s signature event is hosted in the Middle East for the first time. The super heavyweights, including Joyce, get started on Wednesday, with their gold medal match providing the competition’s grand finale on October 15.

    And if Joyce, 30, is to make it all the way then he has some serious competition. That includes the No.1 ranked Kazakh Ivan Dychko, who many felt got a raw deal in losing to Joshua in the semi-finals at London 2012.  

    With Joyce ranked seventh by the AIBA, it’s clear he will have to upset favoured opponents if he is to triumph, but the added bonus of sealing qualification for the Rio. 

    Joyce celebrates gold at the Baku 2015 European Games.

    Olympics is clearly a huge incentive for a man who doesn’t fit the stereotypical perception of a hulking heavyweight contender. 

    Joyce might look the part as a punching powerhouse, the skin around his left eye damaged after countless stitches, and a chest sticking out like the front of an armoured vehicle, but away from the pain game you’ll find a cultured individual, very much the gentle giant. And while he likes to decorate canvasses with the bodies of fallen foes, he is in fact just as adept with a brush in his hand. 

    “I’ve always loved painting, so I’ve got a university degree in Fine Arts,” he explains. “At some stage I want my own exhibition, or even open up a gallery, but for now my focus is on the boxing.”  

    Growing up in the London suburb of Putney, Joyce was always into sports, and dreamed of being able to compete in the Olympics. 

    At an early age, he started out with martial arts, but soon pursued a career in athletics, namely long and high jump – a career that followed him into his early 20s, but ended abruptly due to a newly discovered love for boxing.

    “At the time I was struggling to get the results that I wanted in athletics, so I took a break, and went down to the gym to basically try to train really hard for a while. I was a late starter, and didn’t really start boxing until I was maybe 22 or 23 years old, but I enjoyed it and wanted to give it a real go,” he says.

    “When I switched to boxing it was like a different world to me. I kept on winning, kept on improving, and before I knew it I was in the Great Britain squad. Here, I am much closer than ever before to making my dream come true.”

    #Doha #Qatar #gbboxing #worldchampionships #team #morningrun #sun #heat https://t.co/4OplzrKN3M

    — Joseph Joyce (@JoeJoyce_1) October 3, 2015

    Two years ago at the AIBA Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Joyce was upset by unheralded Algerian Hamza Beguerni, but he rebounded in style to win gold medals at both the 2014 Commonwealth Games and also the inaugural European Games in Baku this year.

    Should he indeed prevail in Doha, he would add to a strangely meagre collection of British successes at the World Championships, where then-lightweight Frankie Gavin’s 2007 success stands alone as the country’s sole gold medal.

    “We’ve always been a proud boxing nation, but it’s been a long time since Britain last won gold in the Worlds,” adds Joyce.

    “I feel strong, ready and if I can perform to my potential, I should be able to get that gold medal and qualify for Rio [2016 Olympic Games].

    It will be hard though and since AIBA changed the rules so that boxers actually had to qualify through official confederation events, it will most likely be the most competitive World Championships ever.”

    #padwork #gbboxing #training #sharpener #boxing

    A video posted by Joseph Joyce (@jobeyone1) on Oct 4, 2015 at 8:20am PDT

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