Delicious Orie has weighed in on the debate around Joe Joyce’s future, after his fellow Commonwealth champion suffered his fifth loss in six fights.
Joyce, 40, won Commonwealth gold for England and Olympic silver for Britain before turning professional and winning his first 15 fights – even stopping Daniel Dubois, Joseph Parker and Carlos Takam.
However, the heavyweight’s sole win since 2022 is a late stoppage of Kash Ali in 2024, which came after back-to-back KOs by Zhilei Zhang and preceded a hat-trick of defeats: points losses to Derek Chisora and Filip Hrgovic, and a stoppage by Artem Suslenkov this month.
Now, compatriot and fellow heavyweight Orie has given his opinion on the situation, one year after abruptly calling time on his own pro career after just one fight.
“It’s funny you say this, because I was literally having a conversation about Joe Joyce earlier,” the 29-year-old told The Independent. “It’s very interesting with Joe. Phenomenal athlete, he did exceptional as an amateur and did great things as a professional as well.
“I’m going to be honest: I think he’s overstayed his welcome.” Perhaps hinting at his own early retirement from boxing, Orie added: “If you were to ask me, if I was Joe Joyce, I would have stopped about six years ago.
“He’s at the age now where it’s like… It’s not even an age thing as well, you can see it in his performance: it’s slowing down, and it’s so obvious.
“Now, I’m in no place to say: ‘Oh, he’s done.’ At the end of the day, one of my ethos is: do something that keeps that fire going; if your ‘why’ is big enough, do it. Don’t do it for anybody else. And if that genuinely is Joe Joyce, and that’s what he believes deep down in his heart, then 100 per cent [he should carry on].
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“It sounds quite extreme for me to say, but this is the mindset that you’ve got to have as an athlete: for me before the Olympic Games, it was, ‘Am I willing to die in the ring today? How much am I willing to sacrifice? How much can I give?’ And if it’s, ‘I’m going to give absolutely everything,’ then it doesn’t matter what the result is; go and do it.
“When I started to think, ‘I don’t think I’m going to give quite enough,’ that’s when it’s time to pull out.
“Will I ever know what’s going on in Joe Joyce’s mind? No, but I do think – definitely from a health standpoint, for the young heavyweights that are up and coming – it’s important to know when to step out. And that’s difficult to handle for some athletes. Like, it was difficult for me to step away.
“It’s sort of like you’re losing your identity in a way, something you’ve armoured yourself with over many, many years to be perceived as. To step away is almost like dropping all of that hard work. So, I can definitely see that sort of angle from Joe Joyce, but at the same time, it’s so important to look inwards; that’s where the real answer is.’”
Orie continued, “Sorry, I just wanted to add: at the end of the day, my key message is whatever you feel keeps that fire within you, do that. Don’t ever listen to anybody else, whether it’s to keep boxing or to stop boxing – it doesn’t matter. I think that’s what makes life worth living.
“If Joe Joyce doesn’t have real intrinsic motivation to do anything else, why should he stop boxing at that level? None of us can give that sort of judgement.”
HBO Max is the exclusive streaming destination for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games in the UK and Ireland, while live coverage will be available on TNT Sports for TV viewers.
