{"id":801934,"date":"2026-07-15T13:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/801934\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T13:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:50:08","slug":"dave-allen-sums-up-joe-joyces-performance-in-latest-loss-to-artem-suslenkov-as-retirement-calls-mount","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/801934\/","title":{"rendered":"Dave Allen sums up Joe Joyce’s performance in latest loss to Artem Suslenkov as retirement calls mount"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Joyce<\/a> lost for a fifth time in his last six fights when halted by Artem Suslenkov on Saturday, and now fellow British heavyweight and former sparring partner Dave Allen has offered his thoughts on Joyce\u2019s performance and recent form.<\/p>\n

Following a knockout win over Joseph Parker in 2022, Joyce seemed set for a world title shot, given the fact that he held the WBO Interim strap, but back-to-back knockout defeats to Zhilei Zhang<\/a> caused \u2018The Juggernaut\u2019 to lose both his belt and his momentum.<\/p>\n

The previously granite-chinned Briton was unconvincing in a return to winning ways against Kash Ali in 2024, and he has since gone on to lose out to Derek Chisora, Filip Hrgovic and Suslenkov \u2013 who stopped him in bizarre fashion in Moscow at the weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Stomping Ground<\/a>, Allen praised Joyce for giving him some of the hardest spars of his career and admitted that, at one point, he may have been the best heavyweight on the planet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched Suslenkov in December, he boxed Stanley Wright on an IBA show, I was over there\u00a0 and I watched it. Suslenkov is good, but Joe Joyce is one of the best fighters that I ever sparred, ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sparred on and off for about six years and we had some of the most heavy duty spars that you have ever seen in your life, I used to give him three [shots] and he would give me six back. I\u2019d take six to give two or three back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was hard as nails, he was so strong, he had the work rate and when he beat Parker, he might have been the best heavyweight in the world then, you know. Imagine Usyk trying to keep him off for 12 [rounds] at that point, that would have been a big ask for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, for me, at one point, Joe could have been the best heavyweight in the world. I love Joe Joyce, I have got so much respect for him, he is one man that I have never called out because he scares me, he is just an absolute beast!\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, after watching the 40-year-old lose to Suslenkov, Allen labelled Joyce\u2019s decline as \u2018sad\u2019, before insinuating that it is time for the Londoner to hang up the gloves.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo watch him with Suslenkov, it was sad really. The writing had been on the wall because he has been weighing in at 20-stone plus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is never for me to tell anyone else to stop boxing because people say it to me all of the time and I say \u2018well, it is not your life, it is not your business\u2019 but, with Joe now, Suslenkov is good but Joe Joyce at his best is not losing to Suslenkov. I don\u2019t think he would have lost to Fillp Hrgovic either.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes me really sad. I can only hope that he has got enough money to finish up and be happy with what he has got.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joyce is yet to announce whether he will fight again, but the overwhelming feeling from both fighters and fans is that he should prioritise his health and walk away from the sport<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Joyce lost for a fifth time in his last six fights when halted by Artem Suslenkov on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-801934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}