Eddie Hearn believes it is time for Joe Joyce to hang the gloves up after his devastating knockout at the hands of Zhilei Zhang on Saturday night.
Zhang landed a viscous right hook on Joyce that ended the fight in the third round, meaning he remains the WBO interim champion.
There has been talk of Joyce fighting Anthony Joshua but promoter Hearn thinks that would be a terrible idea and that he should call it a day.
‘He’s 38? He’s taken a huge amount of punishment in sparring, in fights,’ Hearn said in an interview with IFL after Conor Benn’s comeback fight in Florida.
‘His greatest asset was his ability to take punches and walk through them – he can’t do it anymore.
Eddie Hearn thinks that it is time for Joe Joyce to bring his boxing career to an end
Joyce (left) suffered a devastating knockout at the hands of Zhilei Zhang in the third round
‘Zhilei Zhang is a good fighter, he’s not an elite heavyweight, in my opinion, but he’s a world-class heavyweight.’
Asked about a fight between Joyce and Joshua, Hearn replied ‘no, that would be dangerous.
‘Honestly, he shouldn’t be boxing.
He’s had a great career, he should’ve been Olympic champion, he won the interim world heavyweight title and I’m sure he’s made a lot of money as well.
‘AJ punches as hard as Zhang with much more speed. It’s not the right fight to make, you have to protect these guys. It’s a car crash that fight. A car crash.’
Hearn thinks a fight between Joshua and Zhang makes much more sense than one with Joyce
Joshua beat Zhang on his way to Olympic gold in 2012 and Hearn is open to the idea of a rematch.
‘AJ has always fancied that fight,’ he said when asked whether Joshua would consider facing Zhang.
‘He beat him in the amateurs, it was a good fight. Of course, [we’d do it in China]. Money talks, we can do it at Wembley [Stadium].
‘We want to make the Wilder fight. I think Zhang is an easier fight, it’s still dangerous, but why not?’