Olympian Frazer Clarke believes his former Team GB teammate, Joe Joyce, should avoid an immediate rematch with Zhilei Zhang.
Joyce suffered his first career defeat on Saturday night at London’s Copper Box Arena.
He was stopped in six rounds by Zhang, who rocked the British boxer several times in the contest.
Joyce was unable to adjust to Zhang’s southpaw style. Zhang landed left hands all fight long, which led to Joyce’s right eye swelling shut – prompting the ringside doctor to advise the referee to wave off the fight in the sixth round.
Clarke expects a similar outcome in a rematch.
“I think probably déjà vu would happen all over again,” Clarke told Sky Sports. “You win some, you lose some. It’s a bad loss, it’s took your interim position away. I’d stay away from that.
“I don’t think there are many people in the world that would have done that to Joe Joyce. The southpaw stance added in with the punch power was a massive thing. I think [Deontay] Wilder could possibly do that to him but I think the southpaw stance played a big part with Joe.
“Don’t get me wrong, Zhang’s a good fighter but I expected Joe to weather the storm and then come on later. Now, after the defeat, when you look back at the credentials, to be fair all of [Zhang’s] performances have been pretty devastating. I just didn’t remember him being as sharp with the back hand as he actually was last night. I still expected [Joyce] to walk through quite a lot and take a little bit more on the gloves and then come back strong later on. But he was taking too many shots.”
Clarke views world title challenger Dillian Whyte as the perfect comeback opponent for Joyce.
Whyte was ringside for Joyce’s fight with Zhang.
“I think Dillian Whyte was there last night trying to build a bit of a fight. I think that’s a great fight for Joe. I think it’s a fight that Joe wins,” Clarke said.
“He doesn’t have the awkwardness of a Zhang. I don’t think he hits as hard as Zhang neither and the shot that Dillian Whyte is best known for is probably the left hook. I don’t think Joe will be that susceptible to it as he was to the southpaw backhand landing down the middle. I think that would be a great fight for Joe. I think it’s a fight that Joe wins.”