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By Ed Carruthers
For Mailonline
Published: 21:01 BST, 23 September 2023 | Updated: 22:51 BST, 23 September 2023
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Follow Mail Sport’s live blog for the latest updates and news as Joe Joyce takes on Zhilei Zhang for the second time with the WBO interim World Heavyweight title on the line.
Here comes Zhang!
The 6ft 6in fighter walks to the ring to Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’.
Here comes Joyce!
And he looks ready to fight! He’s walking out to a rendition of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and the crowd have joined in singing to the iconic song! Cheers go up as he makes his way into the centre of the stadium.
Here we go! So it’s not long now until the walk outs for the main event! Ahead of the fight Joyce vowed to ‘rip back’ the WBO interim title from ‘tricky b******’ Zhang tonight. ‘It’s still ongoing, it’s a tough pill to swallow to lose,’ he told Sportsmail ahead of his rematch with Zhang on September 23 at the OVO Wembley Arena. ‘But I didn’t lose too badly, I could have carried on, I felt I could carry on but it was stopped for me.
I know I’ll do better next time. I was just so disappointed for the people that came out to watch me, my family, my friends and I didn’t deliver like I normally do.
‘I want to be world champion’: Yarde
Following his dominant win, Yarde is aiming for the stars, claiming that he was happy to get back into the ring after his win and is aiming to become world champion.
Yarde said: ‘For me it was like nine months out of the ring and my last fight was against Berterbiev.
‘I feel like I started strong but I just wanted to get back in there, get to the timing which is completely different to sparring. ‘The punches come at different speeds.’
He added: ‘I was happy to get in there today.’
What does Yarde want to achieve? ‘I want to be world champion. I want to go down in history as the kid from east London who had 12 amateur fights who became world champion.
‘If we’re talking domestically I want the Buatsi fight. That’s what every one else wants. It has to happen.’
Frank Warren: ‘We’ve been talking about it [the Buatsi fight] for a long time and tried to make a couple of times.
‘I genuinely think Buatsi vs Azeez, the winner wouldn’t be a problem for us. That’s an open door pushing that. I think outside of the two world champions, he’s the best guy there [points to Yarde].
On Yarde: ‘It’s a matter of time before he [Yarde] wins a world title, but we’ve got to make big fights for him in the meantime.
‘The winner of that fight and Anthony would be a huge fight in this country and nothing should stand in the way of that happening.’
Yarde wins it in the second round!
Yarde finds his rhythm! He’s targeted his body in the opening stages of the second round, landing some heavy body shots on Silva with both hands. He pushes Silva onto the ropes, producing the power before landing a brutal blow to the head of his Portuguese opponent who drops to the canvas.
Silva gets to his feet but can’t make the count with Yarde winning by knockout to extend his record to 24-3-0.
ROUND 1: Yarde looks stronger
Coming off the back of a loss to Artur Beterbiev in January, Yarde is looking to get back to winning ways here. He’s looked the more aggressive fighter so far in the first round, pushing Silva around the ring, but both fighters are were still trying to work each other out and build a bit of rhythm.
Can Joe Joyce do it tonight?
While we prepare for Yarde to fight Silva, we’ve been taking a look back at Joe Joyce’s career and why he needs a win tonight against Zhilei Zhang to get back in the heavyweight title mix. Mail Sport’s Sam Brookes takes a look back at the career of the Brit, who didn’t turn professional until he was 32-years-old.
Yarde vs Silva coming up!
Anthony Yarde is making his way into the ring ahead of his fight against Jorge Silva!
Itauma admits he’s reaching for the sky!
‘I just want step ups,’ the 18-year-old fighter said after his win against Boucetta. But the young star is aiming for the sky and was asked if he would be staying around for the rest of the evening to watch Yarde vs Silva and Joyce take on Zhang. ‘Of course,’ Itauma said. ‘If I want to achieve what I want to achieve these could even be my opponents!’
HUGE SHOT! Moses Itauma wins it!
Amine Boucetta is in action in our next heavyweight fight against Moses Itauma. But the fight has been stopped in the first round after Itauma, 18, hit a huge uppercut on his opponent, dropping him to the canvas. Boucetta was visibly dazed, but he was able to continue. But the British fighter, who’s record will now go to 5-0-0, pressed him onto the ropes, landing several shots on him, with the referee stopping the contest in the first fight. Carl Frampton lauded Itauma after the fight, applauding his speed. ‘That left uppercut was a beautiful shot’, Frampton said. ‘I don’t think there’s another heavyweight fighter on the planet with faster hands than Moses Itauma.’
Conor Benn back in action too tonight
While there’s some big action tonight in London, the boxing world will be keeping one eye on Conor Benn’s return to the ring.
Benn makes a shock return to boxing this weekend in a low-key event in Orlando, Florida, despite the unresolved doping case that could still see him banned from the sport. He’ll face off against Mexican Rodolfo Orozco in his first fight back since returning a positive drugs test back in 2022. Mail Sport’s boxing writer Jeff Powell takes a deep dive into tonight’s fight in London and Benn’s fight in Orlando and what’s at stake in each bout!
Pierce O’Leary retains his WBC International Super Lightweight belt!
The judges score the fight 100-90, 99-92, 99-92, with O’Leary winning the fight and retaining his WBC International Super Lightweight belt. Gardener looks nonplussed by the decision – yet O’Leary lifts his hands to the air in celebration! A strong finish from Gardner – what a fight! The bell wraps up a fantastic contest between the super lightweight fighters. Gardner put up a brilliant showing towards the end there. He may have been beaten here with O’Leary having been more dominant during the majority of the fight, but he showed some excellent resilience to come back at the end and fire some brilliant shots at the Irishman. There was some brilliant sportsmanship at the end of the bout too, with the pair embracing after the bout.
Here we go!
Gardener and O’Leary are into the ninth round of their bout as of writing. The Irish fighter seems to have some blood coming down his cheek, with Gardner growing back into the fight following that huge shot in the sixth round.
Meanwhile, we’re expecting walkouts for Zhang and Joyce to take place at approximately 10:30pm BST and the Brit is starting to get his fists wrapped!
Referees cracking down on low blows
We’ve interestingly just seen referee Steve Gray showing Zhang what will constitute a low blow tonight in the changing rooms on TNT Sport’s build-up. It interestingly comes after Oleksandr Usyk sparked much commentary during his victory over Daniel Dubois after it appeared the Ukrainian had struck the Brit below the belt. It seems referees are cracking down on lower punches, with the referee in O’Leary’s fight against Gardener having warned the fighters in the opening rounds about hitting low shots.
How did Joyce react after his defeat to Zhang?
It was a tough defeat for the Brit, who lost his WBO interim heavyweight title belts to Zhang in April.
He admitted his disappointment after the bout, while also stating that he ‘gave it his all’.
‘I’m just disappointed with my performance,’ Joyce said after the fight.
‘The right hand he kept hitting me with I couldn’t get out of that way so respect to Zhang, Big Bang.
‘It was a good fight. I think I could have done better. I haven’t fought…
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