Heavyweight title hopeful, Joe Joyce, has reacted to comments from British rival, Daniel Dubois, whom he beat by tenth round stoppage back in November 2020.
Joyce went into the all-British clash as the underdog but kept Dubois at bay by establishing his jab. He did enough damage to fracture the eye socket of the favourite, causing the then 23-year-old to take a knee and accept defeat.
In an interview with iFL TV, Joyce was asked about claims from Dubois that he wasn’t ‘beat up that badly’ in their fight.
‘The Juggernaut’ totally dismissed this and threatened to do the same again. He then gave little chance to the WBA mandatory challenger ahead of his proposed fight with the unified champion, Oleksandr Usyk.
“Well, why did he take a knee? Because of his eye, mate. Dubois talks a lot of s**t, man. He needs to hush down. I mean, he has got a good shot, but let’s have that fight [rematch] if it presents itself.”
“Mate, Oleksandr Usyk is going to dance rings around him, he [Dubois] is not going to be able to hit him. I believe that he [Usyk] gets him out of there.”
Dubois being on the verge of that title shot means WBO Interim Champion, Joyce, must wait for him and Filip Hrgovic to have a crack at Usyk before he can, and his frustration at being behind them in the pecking order is clear and justified.
Instead, Joyce will box Zhilei Zhang on Saturday night at the Copper Box Arena as he looks to prove that he is the biggest threat to the heavyweight throne.
If he gets the victory as fans and pundits expect, big fights await.