Joe Joyce has rematch clause with Zhang when Chinese star will be at least 40 – but Brit casts doubt over fighting again
JOE JOYCE has a rematch clause to fight Zhilei Zhang again – but will first assess his options.
The 2016 Olympic silver medallist was stunned in defeat to Zhang, who scored a stunning sixth-round technical knockout.
Joyce’s right eye was gruesomely swollen and the referee and ringside doctor deemed him unable to continue.
He does have a rematch clause in his contract, which guarantees him a second bout if he wished to activate it.
But Joyce told talkSPORT: “When you take risks, sometimes it doesn’t go your way. I’m just disappointed, but I’ll be back.
“It’s not the end of my journey. If I decide to rematch him next or whenever, I’ll be back.
“I’ll be reviewing my loss and seeing where I can make improvements and stuff, but yeah, just massively disappointed.”
In a separate interview with BBC Sport, Joyce added: “We’re going to discuss it. I could have one in between. I’m just going to decide.
“I’m going to have some time off and reflect and watch the tape back and see where I went wrong.”
Joyce, 37, lost his WBO interim title and mandatory shot at the full belt held by Oleksandr Usyk, 36.
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Zhang, who turns 40 in May, inherits the belt and pole position while opening the door to a rematch.
He told SecondsOut: “Yeah, I’ll do it if Joe Joyce wants to do it. I’ll do it in London, New York, or China.
“Failure doesn’t mean anything. If I failed tonight. I’ll go back and watch my video and work on my weakness, and I’ll come back again.”