Joe Joyce wants Oleksandr Usyk next, as fans know. “The Juggernaut” won the WBO interim belt with his win over Joseph Parker and he is now anxious to fight Usyk and get his hands on the full title. And, in speaking with Sky Sports News, Joyce, 15-0(14), said Usyk has to vacate the title if he doesn’t want to fight him.
If the fight does happen, Joyce is sure he would “get to Usyk” over the course of the 12 rounds. Joyce lost a five-round amateur fight to Usyk some years back, but both he and Usyk are different fighters today.
“If Usyk doesn’t want to fight me then he has to vacate the belt then I get elevated to full champion. From there, I can defend the belt,” Joyce said. “That was the next jump into the elite bracket. [Joe Parker] is a top fighter, ex world champion, so it was a great victory for me. I didn’t have to fight Parker, but it pushed me up to the next level. I think I would start to get to him [Usyk], if I can keep the pressure up. He is a very skilful fighter, but at this level it’s all going to be tough from here on in. This time I would be more prepared and have a proper training camp geared towards him. It’s over 12 rounds with smaller gloves and I’ve come a long way since then. It was a long time ago.”
Usyk, 20-0(13) has made it clear he wants to fight Tyson Fury, but that it will be next year. However, at this point in time we have no idea what Fury is going to do, what his frame of mind is. Does Fury want to fight Usyk? If there is no Fury-Usyk unification showdown, the next best fight for the fans is probably a Usyk-Deontay Wilder clash, with a fight between Usyk and Joyce perhaps coming in third in terms of most appealing world heavyweight title fight currently out there.
Joyce has got people excited due to his excellent performance against Parker, where the 37 year old showed, amongst other things, a granite chin and an incredible engine. Can Joyce go all the way and rule the world? Can he avenge that amateur loss to Usyk? Maybe we will get an answer to both questions some time early next year?
