JOE JOYCE threw almost THREE times as many punches as Zhilei Zhang – but still fell to a brutal defeat.
Joyce was pulled out by referee Howard Foster on the advice of the ringside doctor due to a gruesomely swollen eye.
Zhang was handed a technical knockout victory after six rounds of razor sharp left hands and quick combinations.
The punch stats revealed Joyce threw a total of 464 shots, compared to the 180 coming back his way.
But he landed only 85, whereas Zhang was far more accurate with 82 of his attacks connecting.
The Chinese Olympic silver medalist ended the bout with a 46 per cent punch accuracy, compared to Joyce's 18 per cent ratio.
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Joyce has rematch clause with Zhang but Brit casts doubt over fighting again
Zhang, 39, inherited the WBO interim title and mandatory position for the full belt held by Oleksandr Usyk, 36.
Meanwhile Joyce, 37, has a rematch clause in his contract meaning he has a shot at redemption if he chooses.
He told talkSPORT: “When you take risks, sometimes it doesn’t go your way. I’m just disappointed, but I’ll be back.
"It’s not the end of my journey. If I decide to rematch him next or whenever, I’ll be back.
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"I’ll be reviewing my loss and seeing where I can make improvements and stuff, but yeah, just massively disappointed."
In a separate interview with BBC Sport, Joyce added: "We're going to discuss it. I could have one in between. I'm just going to decide.
"I'm going to have some time off and reflect and watch the tape back and see where I went wrong."
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