Former interim heavyweight champion Joe Joyce aims to recover from a knockout defeat to Zhilei Zhang against an infamous opponent.
“The Juggernaut” heads to Resorts World Arena in Birmingham on Saturday, March 16, searching for a much-needed win.
That shouldn’t be a problem for Joyce if he wants to return to the top-division mix. Joyce has been pitted against inactive cannon fodder in Kash Ali.
Joyce’s foe is more famous for biting David Price than achieving anything in the heavyweight ranks. In his last fight, one of only three in almost four years, Ali lost to the unheard-of Bohdan Myronets.
Joe Joyce vs Kash Ali
In March 2019, Ali hit the headlines for biting Price during their Liverpool clash. Even more startling than that was Ali’s excuse for doing so.
Ali blamed the Liverpool fans for hurling racism towards him as the trigger for biting a chunk out of Price’s chest. However, authorities who banned Ali for six months didn’t buy that story.
During his defense, Ali’s solicitor, Mr. Mahtab Aziz, outlined the claims of abuse.
Mr. Ali accepted the allegation of Misconduct under Regulation 25 by biting Mr. Price in their bout. In mitigation, Mr. Aziz presented the other side of the coin ‘to the Area Council, which may not have been apparent to Sky TV viewers and even other audience members on the night.
The Council was informed that Mr. Ali had been subjected to a barrage of racist abuse from the moment he stepped into the Echo Arena. He became a target for Price’s Liverpool home crowd, who started shouting racially offensive names. At the same time, he was calling for him to be knocked out by Price.
Ali had never faced such open racism in all 15 of his previous professional fights. This had come as an initial shock to his system.
Even the Referee Mark Lyson’s report noted that Ali appeared ‘wound up by something as he stepped into the ring and during the fight.
Racial abuse defense
The racial abuse continued as the fight began and through its duration. The abuse was so evident that even the ringside Sky commentator pointed it out while commenting on the fight.
Speaking about his return before embarking on his underwhelming run, Ali discussed the Price brain fart and his ambitions.
“The fight against Price was going how we expected. He’s a big puncher, but when I watch it back, I did the hard part and didn’t get hit with anything stupid.
“I did take some shots but didn’t go down and recovered. The fifth round was my round; there’s no point talking about what could have been, but the truth is that he didn’t beat me; I beat myself.
“The only good thing is that it shows I’m at that level. With Price against Dave Allen, it was a one-sided boxing lesson, so it shows people where I’m at.
“I wasn’t right going into that fight, but I showed glimpses of what I’ve got. I don’t want to stay at the British level in the future; I want to go beyond it,” he concluded.
Joy Joyce will look to end those ambitions this spring if Myronets didn’t already.
Phil Jay is an experienced boxing news writer and has been the Editor of World Boxing News since 2010.
