Joe Joyce stops Kash Ali in remaining 30 seconds on return to motion following Zhilei Zhang defeats | Boxing Information

Joe Joyce marked his return to motion with a win on Saturday as he stopped Kash Ali within the remaining spherical of their all-British heavyweight encounter in Birmingham.

Joyce was regarded to answer back-to-back stoppage defeats to the heavy-hitting Zhilei Zhang in 2023, which price him the WBO interim title whereas pegging him again considerably in his bid to earn a shot at a full world title.

A laboured efficiency may need been anticipated for the ‘The Juggernaut’ on an evening when the end result held extra weight than the show as Joyce appears to be like to renew his climb in direction of the division’s frontrunners.

The 2016 Olympic silver medallist, who weighed in at near 20-and-a-half stone, had been made to work arduous in opposition to his 32-year-old opponent and did not discover pleasure till the seventh spherical.

Because the pair traded pictures within the remaining exchanges, Joyce produced the decisive blow with a thumping proper jab to go away Ali on the canvas earlier than being counted out by the referee within the remaining 30 seconds of the tenth and remaining spherical.

Ali entered the struggle having fought simply twice since 2021 because of damage, having additionally beforehand served a six-month ban in 2019 for biting David Worth.

The victory lifts Joyce, who shall be 39 in September, to 16-2 in his profession and again on the highway to difficult the massive names in heavyweight boxing.

Later within the night time Liam Davies turned the brand new IBO super-bantamweight world champion as he stopped Erik Robles Ayala of Mexico, earlier than Nathan Heaney remained British middleweight champion after a draw in opposition to Brad Pauls.