Heavyweight title hopeful Joe Joyce has offered his verdict ahead of the upcoming undisputed heavyweight fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, as fans eagerly await one of the hottest contests in the division since the turn of the millennium.
Joyce fought Usyk as an amateur, losing each of their five rounds back in 2015, but went on to win the Olympic silver medal at Rio 2016, after defeat to Tony Yoka in the final.
Since then, Joyce has taken to life as a professional for the most part, winning his first fifteen contests and scoring fourteen knockouts, picking up the British title and the WBO Interim title along the way.
However, back-to-back defeats to Zhilei Zhang have frozen ‘The Juggernaut’ out of the heavyweight title picture, but the 38-year-old still seemingly has an eye on the belts, revealing his interest in the Fury-Usyk showdown in an interview with Fight Hub TV.
“I was thinking Fury, because he is bigger, he can lean on him, make it messy and get the knockout that way. He throws less punches than Usyk, but he has got longer reach, he has got a fast jab and stuff.
“Whereas Usyk is going to be closing the distance, he has got very good ring IQ and lateral movement, and he throws a lot of punches, so he could outpoint Fury with the amount of punches that he throws.”
Joyce went on further and said what Fury must do to stop Usyk coming out on top in the contest.
“That is unless Fury can do something to stop him coming forward or make it awkward for him, but Usyk is a very intelligent fighter, he is quick, throws a lot of punches, and he has got a good chin as well.”
“It’s a great fight, they are both at the top of their game and I am looking forward to seeing it.”
Asked for a prediction, Joyce said “I’ll say Fury.”