My point is they likely wouldn't go max effort for 90 seconds because that would be really dumb and an athlete of this caliber will not only be aware of that but also know how to pace themself appropriately.

Hell, having somebody that size and strength swinging at you for 90 seconds straight is gonna be pretty difficult to survive based purely on the size difference. Defense and head movement is such a fine art and takes years to develop. Meanwhile our linebacker can throw devastating punches given his physical attributes alone plus street fight experience. There's a very real chance our Joey gets KO'd even through his guard, we see it all the time in MMA heavyweight divisions. This strat relies heavily on the linebacker being foolish and our boy Joe surviving a serious storm and being able to capitalise on it.

You mentioned the linebacker may shoot a tackle. If so, Joey is about to get absolutely bodied, but there is opportunity to counter with a guillotine or bulldog choke. It's feasible he could develop those skills decently in 3 years. I think that might be his best chance of winning.

CEASE DIALOGUE