Should Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk face off to crown an undisputed heavyweight champion, Joe Joyce will be one of the first in the queue to take the title for himself.
Now WBO Interim Champion following a stellar performance against former champ, Joseph Parker, Joyce has a keen eye on the Fury-Usyk talks.
Perhaps the most important development for him is that Fury demanded there be no second fight granted to the loser. He told Sky Sports that the lack of a rematch clause in the contract was good news for him.
“At last. That would be something, wouldn’t it? There’s been a lot of rematch clauses of late. They drag on, don’t they? It’s quite refreshing to hear that there isn’t one for this fight. I can jump in afterwards, fight the winner.”
And whilst the goal remains the same, there’s one man he wants to face to make it happen.
Many may think that Joyce would like to avenge his amateur loss to Usyk from the 2013 World Series of Boxing, but it’s ‘The Gypsy King’ he’d rather do battle with in the most important fight of his career.
“Usyk, I wouldn’t mind fighting again … But Fury’s a bigger fight. They’re going to get ‘Juggernauted.’
“I’m confident in my abilities and I think it would be a great fight against either of them. But I really like the sound of the Fury fight. Can you imagine? Undisputed has a nice ring to it. Undefeated, undisputed maybe.”]
Joyce returns to action at London’s Copper Box Arena against Zhilei Zhang on April 15.
Just two weeks later and across the other side of town, Fury and Usyk are expected to fill Wembley Stadium and throw down to crown an undisputed champ.
There’s no doubt that ‘The Juggernaut’ will be waiting in the wings.