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Joseph Obey "Joe" Joyce is a British professional boxer from London, England. Renowned for his devastating punching power, his nickname is the Juggernaut due to his relentless bulldozing style which has taken him to a 93% knockout-to-win percentage.
Born to a Scottish-born Irish father and a Nigerian mother, Joyce grew up in London and studied at Elliott School in Putney. He took up boxing at the unusually late age of 22 having had his interest in both athletics and rugby curtailed by injuries.
Joyce has held the British, Commonwealth, WBC Silver and WBO International heavyweight titles since 2020, whilst he previously held the European heavyweight title between 2020 and 2021, and he is currently ranked as the one of the world's best active heavyweights by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and ESPN.
As an amateur, Joyce won the super heavyweight class at the 2012 ABA Championships and 2012 GB Amateur Championships. He won the bronze at the 2013 European Amateur Boxing Championships after getting KO'd by defending champion, Sergei Kuzmin, in the semi-final. He went on to win a bronze medal at the 2013 European Championships, gold at the 2014 Commonwealth and 2015 European Games, and bronze at the 2015 World Championships. He competed in the men's super heavyweight division at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where he won the gold medal and he also claimed victory at the 2015 European Games in Baku.
He had further success during 2015 and 2016 in the "World Series of Boxing" and, in April 2016, he won a gold medal at the European Olympic trials to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympic games where, on 21 August 2016, he won the silver medal in the super heavyweight class. Joe lost in the final to Tony Yoka of France via a controversial split decision which many deemed to be corruption. The awarding of the medal, along with a number of other medals during the games, are still under investigation, while Joe hopes to eventually be upgraded to gold. Joe's silver was the final medal of the 2016 games to be won by Team GB.
Joyce turned professional in July 2017 at the age of 31, signing with Hayemaker Ringstar promotions run by former world heavyweight champion, David Haye. On 6 September 2017, an official announcement was made for the first boxing event which would take place at Indigo O2 Arena in London, England on 20 October 2017. Haye confirmed that Joyce would headline the card, making his debut against experienced former WBO Asia Pacific champion Ian Lewison in which Joyce put on an impressive display in a hard earned victory.
On 4 November, it was announced that he would fight on the undercard of the Tony Bellew vs. David Haye rematch on 17 December against English boxer Tom Little, but the event was rescheduled for 5 May 2018 after Haye suffered an injury during training.
On 16 February 2018, Joyce made his next appearance at the York Hall in London against Croatian boxer Rudolf Jozic in which he claimed a first round stoppage victory. His next fight came just one month later against the American boxer, Donnie Palmer, and again Joe won by first round KO as he knocked Palmer out inside the first minute of round one at the O2 Arena.
On 5 May 2018, Joyce challenged Jamaican boxer Lenroy Thomas for the Commonwealth heavyweight title. He knocked Thomas down three times before the fight came to an end in round 2 and, by winning the belt in just his fourth professional bout, Joyce broke a 106-year-old record. In a non-title fight on 15 June 2018, Joe KO'd Croatian journeyman Ivica Bacurin in less than 2 minutes. The fight took place at York Hall in London and was broadcast live and exclusive on Dave's Live Boxing (2016) show.
In July 2018, Joyce hooked up with world-renowned trainer Abel Sanchez and a month later he signed a promotional deal with Al Haymon. For his American debut, Joe fought Iago Kiladze in an 8-round bout at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California on 30 September. Joyce kept his unbeaten run alive with a fifth round KO.
On 30 October 2018, it was revealed that Joyce would fight American boxer Joe Hanks as part of the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury card at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Joyce put on an impressive performance in knocking out Hanks in the first round of their scheduled 10 round bout as he claimed the vacant WBA Continental heavyweight title.
Next, Joyce returned to the UK to fight former world title-holder Bermane Stiverne on the James DeGale-Chris Eubank Jr. undercard at the O2 Arena in London. Joyce explained that the fight was made after Stiverne made comments about "taking Joyce to school", when they sparred previously. Stiverne explained he felt insulted that Joyce, who had only 7 professional bouts under his belt, wanted to fight him, whilst Joyce predicted that he would take Stiverne out by round 8. True to his word, Joyce kept his knockout streak alive by finishing Stiverne in round 6. With the win, Joyce retained the Commonwealth belt and won the vacant WBA Gold heavyweight title.
On 25 April 2019, Joyce signed with Frank Warren and Queensberry Promotions who would co-promote him alongside Ringstar Sports. It was announced Joyce would return to the ring on the undercard of Billy Joe Saunders vs. Shefat Isufi on 18 May at the Lamex Stadium in Stevenage, England against Russian boxer Alexander Ustinov and Joe won the fight via TKO in round 3.
On 13 July 2019, Joyce was taken the distance for the first time in his professional career by American boxer Bryant Jennings. The fight took place at the O2 Arena in London on the Daniel Dubois vs. Nathan Gorman undercard with Joe winning by unanimous decision. Over a year later, Joyce returned to the ring on 25 July 2020 against Michael Wallisch in Stratford. After knocking Wallisch down three times in the first three rounds, the referee stopped the fight resulting in a TKO victory for Joyce. The bout took place behind-closed-doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was shown live on BT Sport's Fight Night Live.
On 28 November 2020, in a highly anticipated domestic match-up that had big implications for future world title hopes, Joyce fought undefeated prospect Daniel Dubois at Church House in London. Both fighters came in undefeated with the British, Commonwealth, European, WBC Silver and WBO International heavyweight titles all on the line. In a competitive fight, it was the jab of Joyce that made the biggest difference swelling the eye of Dubois from the second round and closing it by the tenth round. in which Dubois was unable to continue: he pawed at his swollen left eye and voluntarily went down on one knee taking a 10 count from the referee, before being counted out. In an upset victory, Joyce was declared the winner by tenth-round KO.
On 24 July 2021, Joyce took on former world title challenger Carlos Takam at the SSE Arena. After a slow start from Joyce, in which Takam landed numerous punches to his head and body during the opening rounds, Joyce staggered his opponent at the start of round six, overwhelming him with a barrage of punches and forcing referee Steve Gray to halt the fight.
Joe's first fight of 2022 came against Christian Hammer on 2 July at Wembley Arena in London which he won by 4th round TKO. This was followed by a much sterner test against former world champion, Joseph Parker, with the vacant WBO interim world championship on the line. The bout took place at the AO Arena in Manchester and, in a hard fought contest, Joyce finally ended the fight by knockout in the 11th round, claiming his most important professional victory to date as he guaranteed himself a shot at the full WBO heavyweight title.
Aside from boxing, Joe obtained a BSc degree in Fine Arts at Middlesex University in 2009, graduating with Upper Second Class Honours. He continues to paint during his time off from the ring and has appeared on a number of UK news shows to discuss his artwork and his love of painting.
