Britain’s Joe Joyce retained his WBC Silver and WBO International heavyweight titles following a fourth-round TKO win over Germany’s Christian Hammer in the main event of a Frank Warren’s fight night in London.
“The Juggernaut” is currently ranked number one in the WBO’s ratings of contenders, which will put him in line eventually for a mandatory shot for the title.
Joyce had been out of the ring since 2021, having to recover from a broken wrist this year. But he didn’t let up against Hammer. He sent hard right crosses into the visitor from the first round, though left himself open to clean rights curving over the top.
Hammer was relying on single shots and even though Joyce had no head movement, Christian was unable to rock him or to keep him at distance.
They traded in the third round but these exchanges were draining for Hammer. The pace Joyce set was tiring him. At the end of the session a left hook sweeping across didn’t even connect cleanly but had enough behind it to put Hammer down.
In the fourth and final round, Joyce battered Hammer back down to the canvas. The visitor just beat that count, only for Joyce to fly back in and crack a left hook into the body that folded Hammer and stopped the fight in the fourth round.
Joe Joyce TKOs Christian Hammer #JoyceHammer #boxing pic.twitter.com/ayV7umUpzb
— Will (@ChillemDafoe) July 2, 2022
“What a performance, I enjoyed it so much,” Joyce said. “I’m top level ready for the world stage.
“I’m ready for all comers and I’m looking to fight the winner of AJ-Usyk, maybe Tyson Fury. I’m at that level.”
