Joe Joyce has explained his relationship with Anthony Joshua, and what the recent ‘bad blood’ stemmed from.
The two British heavyweights came up in the amateurs intertwined, both going on to have Olympic success in different years.
They fought, too, with Joshua winning their bout in 2011 by stoppage. A pro contest is yet to be made, but is high up the heavyweight list in terms of intrigue.
Hype was increased in recent times as the two fighters began to call each other out, leading to the resurfacing of that amateur bout tape as well as some sparring footage.
Joyce, speaking to Boxing King Media, said that a bubbling professional rivalry and that recent escalation led to a falling out.
“I’ve always been playing catch-up, because if I had beaten Joshua in the London finals then it could’ve been me perhaps in 2012. So I’ve always been trying to catch up, and now I’m ahead of them in the rankings, I’ve got the Interim title.”
“Certain things we’ve kind of fallen out about. There was some footage leaked of the sparring of all his best bits, maybe it was from one of his team, and I saw him laughing and gloating about beating me in the amateurs when the ref was quick to jump in.
I had to fight twice that night against a southpaw, so I kept on walking into his right hand cause I was like a novice at the time. To see him laughing and gloating about that, and the different comments… Anyway – it’s a big fight in the making.”
Joyce went on to say that the relationship between the two heavyweights wasn’t always sour, recalling some good memories from their time on the GB squad together.
Finally – and completely in tune with fans – he suggested settling whatever bad blood there is in the ring.