Boxing Betting Tips: Joe Joyce vs Dereck Chisora
(Featured image: Alamy Images)
Heavyweights Joe Joyce (16-2, 15KOs) and Dereck Chisora (34-13, 23KOs) meet in an all-British crossroads dust-up on Saturday evening.
Odds Now have taken a close look at the betting odds to find the best value ahead of the opening bell this weekend.
Joe Joyce vs Dereck Chisora - Fight Details
When is the fight?
The fight takes place on Saturday July 27th. The main undercard is set to take place at 7pm BST. Main event ringwalks are expected at around 11pm BST.
Where is the fight?
London's O2 Arena will host the heavyweight contest.
Betting Odds
Joe Joyce 2/9
Draw 22/1
Dereck Chisora 4/1
Best UK prices as of 10AM 24/07/2024
Big Fight Analysis
While both men come into the fight on the back of wins, another defeat could prove career-ending this weekend.
Joe Joyce was on the cusp of a world title shot prior to his meetings with Zhilei Zhang, both of which ended in defeat. Their first outing in April 2023 saw Joyce stopped inside six rounds on the advice of the ringside doctor due to an injury to his left eye.
Zhang had been dominant up until that point, regularly crashing straight left-hands through a near non-existent Joyce defence from the southpaw stance. An immediate rematch was arranged and the now 41-year-old ended the fight in even more emphatic fashion.
After visibly wobbling the Briton earlier in the bout, Zhang pawed a left to the body before detonating a thunderous right hook on Joyce's chin. The latter was once heralded for his punch resistance but lay flat on his stomach, unable to regain his footing and failing to make referee Steve Gray's count.
The defeats were crushing for Joyce, who was notorious for his ability to take a punch. The Zhang fights suggest his resistance is waining though and poses serious questions of both his physical and mental capacity to operate at the highest level moving forward.
He has since returned to winning ways with a tenth-round stoppage of Kash Ali in March and rightly enters a firm favourite in this one, but another defeat will end any lingering hopes of another run at the top heavyweights.
Above: Zhang laid Joyce out in brutal fashion during their rematch in September 2023. (Photo Credit: Alamy Images)
There's no ambiguity over the decline of former British and European champion Dereck Chisora. The 40-year-old has lost four of his last six fights, shipping a wealth of punishment in the process.
Many have called for the Briton to hang up the gloves but he insists continuing his career as a heavyweight gatekeeper and prepares to face another man looking to benefit from his name at his own expense.
Chisora does come into the fight having won his last outing, where he broke down and outworked another fading heavyweight in America's Gerald Washington. His only other win since October 2019 comes in the form of a razor thin split-decision victory against a 41-year-old Kubrat Pulev two years ago.
Another loss should be the straw which breaks the camel's back for Chisora but, given his popularity and ability to sell a ticket, subsequent outings are not out of the question regardless of the outcome this weekend.
OddsNow's Best Bet
Neither man is blessed with great defensive capabilities. Until the Zhang fights, Joyce was renowned for his ability to absorb punishment without showing signs of damage. Chisora has also rightly been heralded for his immense heart and bravery inside the ring, but one suspects this may prove to be his downfall in the near future.
Doubts linger over Joyce's mental capacity to step inside a ring after his veil of incibility was cracked so brutally last year, but he should still have enough to move past Chisora here. The latter has only been stopped four times across his 13 losses, though, with only one of those coming before the 10th round.
We therefore back Joyce to come out on top in this one, banking the majority of the rounds in a fight destined to reach the latter stages.
Best Bet: Fight to go 8.5+ rounds @ 5/4 (BetFred)