A battle between two fighters looking to stay afloat amongst the heavyweight elite takes place at the O2 Arena on Saturday night, and the smart money would be backing this fight to reach at least the ninth round.

Both Joyce and Chisora boast impressive knockout percentages over the course of their career, but despite this, it’s clear that the heavy favourite in this fight, Joyce, has much more to lose given where he stands in his career.

A tenth-round KO win against biting enthusiast Kash Ali in March will do Joyce a world of good following back-to-back devastating KO losses to Chinese juggernaut Zhilei Zhang, a result to his credit that has aged well given Zhang’s recent outing against Deontay Wilder.

Chisora may be in the twilight of his career but he has shown he still has what it takes to hang with the best of the best. Usyk, Parker (twice), Fury, and Pulev have all battled Del Boy over the past four years, with all of his fights passing the nine-round mark.

This selection landed in Joyce’s last outing and in each of Chisora’s last six. At odds just south of evens, this seems a shrewd selection given the stakes and Chisora’s chin.

Continuing the theme of resilience, Joe Joyce will have to show some mental resilience if he is to get back on track in the heavyweight rankings.

It would be naive for any of us to write off Joyce despite the two KO losses to Zhang. Let’s not forget this is the man who handed young Daniel Dubois his first career loss back in November 2020 and put away fan favourite Joseph Parker in the 11th round in 2022.

While it’s not impossible for Joyce to put Chisora away within the 12 rounds, a loss to a fighter with Chisora’s current trajectory would be crushing for any future opportunities at one of the heavyweight belts.

Joyce has only gone the distance once in his career, but two KO losses can revamp a fighter’s style, as proven in his last fight against Kash Ali.

The Olympic silver medalist just about took Kash Ali out in the final round of his last fight, and Chisora is certainly a step up in class. Odds of 6.0 for Joyce to have his hand raised seem excellent value.

Chisora has reinvented himself from the KO merchant he was known for in the embryonic and prime years of his career, and at 40 years of age, he has proven doubters wrong who proclaim he still can’t hang with the best.

Despite his recent record of exchanging losses, context is important. He went the full 12 rounds with world P4P number 1 Oleksandr Usyk in October 2020, had an utter war in his first fight with Joseph Parker (a fight he was unlucky not to win), took a decision win over tough Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev and took Tyson Fury to the tenth round in his third bout with the Gypsy King.

It may be a long shot, but Chisora has shown just how difficult it is to finish him in any of his recent bouts. Five of his last six have gone to the judges’ scorecards, and while he is the massive underdog in this fight, Del Boy is a fighter who loves to make it a dirty fight. Odds of 13.0 seem good value and look to be his most likely avenue of victory.