‘Soul destroying machine’ – Tony Bellew claims no one in the heavyweight division could KO Joe Joyce apart from Deontay Wilder and maybe Anthony Joshua

Joe Joyce looked unstoppable on Saturday night against Joseph Parker – and Tony Bellew believes even Tyson Fury wouldn’t have the power to KO ‘The Juggernaut’.

It was a terrific heavyweight fight between Joyce and Parker as the pair traded bombs throughout, with the Brit coming out on top in the eleventh round following a crushing left hook.

Richard Pelham / The Sun

One thing that became clear as the fight went on is that Joyce has the best chin in the heavyweight division, as he ate punch after punch and was unfazed by Parker’s power and this impressed former cruiserweight world champion, Tony Bellew.

“Joe Joyce’s best attribute is his durability and that came through once again,” Bellew told talkSPORT.

“He outlasts his man and… his durability is on another level, I’ve never seen anything like it… but he also has the fitness, dexterity and calmness to see through storms and that’s what he’s done.

“He did it against Daniel Dubois, now he’s done it against Joseph Parker and he’s a problem for any heavyweight in the world.”

“Joyce is purely a problem because he’s going to be there,” Bellew continued. “You won’t get rid of him, until the bubble bursts and someone does finally knock him out.

“I think the only guys who could knock him out potentially are Deontay Wilder or maybe AJ, I’m not even sure Fury could do it.

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“He threw 800 punches on Saturday night and 600 of those 800 are not very damaging, they’re just taps, but if you keep knocking on a wall in the end it’s going to fall down.

“That’s what Joe Joyce does, he just keeps coming and he keeps that work rate going. He fights at a pace that most heavyweights just don’t do and they can’t keep with him and then after you hit him with absolutely everything and this pace is just continuing, it’s a problem.

“Joseph Parker is a seasoned former world champion. He’s done it to numerous guys… and that’s because you can’t put a dent in him, I haven’t seen him rocked or wobbled.

“I remember commentating on this guy at the European Championships as an amateur and I labelled him ‘The Human Terminator’, I’ve never seen anyone in my life take what he can take and just keep coming, it’s frightening.

“If I was fighting him and you nail him with an absolutely perfect punch and he just goes ‘sound,’ and keeps going, it’s soul destroying it really is. That’s the best way of explaining Joe Joyce, he’s a soul destroying machine.”

With that being said, Joyce is already 37-years-old and Bellew thinks that when age catches up with ‘The Juggernaut’ and his durability begins to fade, he could be in trouble.

“In the heavyweight division the guys age better,” Bellew said. “These guys go on well into their forties. [Joyce] lives a clean lifestyle and he’s a very well conditioned athlete, he lives the life, so don’t expect to see him age overnight, that’s not going to happen.

“Make no mistake his greatest asset is his durability and that will go.

“I don’t know when or who it will go against, but when it does go he has a problem because he’s not the most fluid fighter.”