As much as a fighter’s career is about power, intelligence and resilience, it is also about timing – how he negotiates each determines the legacy he leaves behind. The final ingredient in that mix may prove vital to the ascending career of Joe Joyce. The boxer’s 24th July fight with Carlos Takam is now the hottest ticket in town after Tyson Fury’s court-mandated bout with Deontay Wilder was pushed back to October. If he plays it right, the Olympic silver medallist could grab both British headlines and a shot at the title.
In doing so, it would represent the beginning of the final act in a long ascent to the top table of world boxing – ignited by a Sliver medal at Rio 2016 and catching fire in victory of Daniel Dubois in November 2020. It was undoubtedly the biggest win of his 13 professional undefeated fights to date – a paltry number of a 35-year-old – and forced the mainstream to take note.
It is difficult not to draw comparisons between this journey and Joyce’s fighting style; slow, calculating, but always an awareness, an expectation, that the fatal blow will likely come and leave his opponent on the mat. It can be easy to underestimate the fighter, but his patience in waiting for the perfect opportunity could pay dividends in and out of the ring.
As he waits on that opportunity – an interim title fight against no.1 contender Oleksander Usyk – Joyce will contend with Takam, a fellow Olympian and one of his most seasoned opponents to date. Takam – who has won 39 of his 45 professional fights, 28 by KO – is no ‘tune-up’ opponent, having gone 10 rounds with Anthony Joshua as a late replacement in 2017, and despite losing his follow-up against Derek Chisora in 2018, the French-Cameroonian has since recovered to go 3-for-3. Victory for Joyce – and a convincing one at that – would keep the pressure on Usyk to confirm a fight that would put the Londoner a heartbeat from the world title.
This contest may not be the defining fixture in Joyce’s career, but in the unpredictability of the Heavyweight division, where contenders can be decided in a matter of weeks, a win would underline Joyce’s maturity and suitability for title contention, following in the footsteps of the previous world champions who have negotiated the curvatures of Takam. Any less, and Joyce risks being remembered as a late bloomer who never fully blossomed.