Joyce Stops Him Quick

Joe Joyce’s career is strange as the 36-year-old, who is a 2016 Olympic silver medalist, got a fourth-round KO win over European gatekeeper Christian Hammer. The bout was originally scheduled to be against Joseph Parker, but fell apart, and Hammer was the replacement. 

Joyce after starting slow dismantled Hammer, who he dropped four times before the stoppage. That being said, Joyce’s defense needs to improve a lot even with incredible bone density. If Hammer landed a lot of straight right hands on him, imagine what Wilder would do. 

That being said, Joyce’s workmate, pressure and pace is something not common at the heavyweight division, and interesting to gauge moving forward.

For Joyce, he is one of the best heavyweights who has gotten a world title shot. Now it is a waiting game. Can Joyce land a fight against Dillian Whyte, Joseph Parker, or even a returning Deontay Wilder. 

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Super bantamweight Zolani Tete brutally knocked out Jason Cunningham in the fourth-round of a scheduled twelve rounder, as Tete a two-division world champion at super flyweight and bantamweight, outclassed Cunningham prior to stopping him. 

Cunningham, who is riding a hot-streak after beating Gamal Yafai just couldn’t handle the craft and power of Tete, who out thought him, and then sent him to the canvas twice in round four. The final knockout saw Cunningham’s head bounce off the mat. Tete now will get a world title shot with the win, as the WBO and IBF international title were on the line, will in the near future have a chance to be a three-division world champion. 

I am not sure how good lightweight Mark Chamberlain will be, but he is worth putting on your list of fighters to be aware of. Chamberlain put forth a complete performance outclassing Marc Vidal, who just took a lot of clean punches. Chamberlain stood out as a guy with only eleven fights, all of which he won, who could easily get to the world level at some point. 

Super welterweight Micky Burke was given all he could handle Serge Ambomo, winning wide on the cards. I personally felt that Ambomo did more in the fight, and probably should’ve been awarded the victory. Burke will either improve from here, or this will be the moment in which his trajectory changes as a fighter. 

William Sculls Wins

We have a new IBF super middleweight #1 contender in William Scull of Cuba by way of Germany, as he got a unanimous decision win over Evgeny Shvedenko, who is trained by Eddie Croft from San Mateo, California. 

Opetaia beats Briedis

Mairis Briedis title run has come to an end. The former IBF cruiserweight world champion lost a close fight in Australia today to Jai Opetaia, that saw Briedis battered and bruised by rounds end. That being said, Briedis hurt Opetaia on multiple occasion.

The final round should be a round of the year contender, come awards season, as Briedis nearly had Opetaia out, but Opetaia finished upright to win the fight. A high drama final act to a sneaky entertaining fight, as Opetaia fought through having a broken jaw to win his first world title. 

So ends one of the weirdest cruiserweight titles runs. Briedis, who was the #2 guy behind Usyk, spent the last year and a half calling out Jake Paul, making raps songs, and getting bad tattoos about him, while the influencer ignored him. It was as though someone told Briedis to chase a Jake Paul fight since it would make a lot of money, and the 37-year-old veteran, who was one of the best of his era just didn’t have enough to out last am man ten years younger. 

Since no one really watches cruiserweight this is more of a blip on the radar, but it is notable as Briedis was a fringe top-20 pound-for-pound-type fighter. 

Jai Opetaia should be now a formidable force in Australia, in which a lot of cards are heading to that market, including a few DAZN shows, and more than likely Devin Haney vs George Kambosos Jnr. II. Opetaia is a guy who can find himself on these cards. 

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2020 Olympian David Nyika fighting at cruiserweight got a second-round TKO victory in a scheduled four-round bout. 

Issac Hardman, fresh off his second round KO loss to Michael Zerafa, got a first-round KO on this card. 

This was a decent regional card shown on ESPN+.