Heavyweight contender, Joe Joyce, has altered his prediction ahead of the upcoming unified world title contest between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois, after recently suggesting that the bout was a mismatch.
Before he made the switch to the professional ranks, Joyce was comfortably defeated by the much smaller Usyk back in 2013 during the World Series of Boxing.
Since then, the Ukrainian has gone on to become an Olympic Gold Medalist, undisputed cruiserweight champion and now unified heavyweight champion of the world.
The 36-year-old has the clear goal to become the second man to hold the undisputed title at both cruiserweight and heavyweight, but failed to agree terms with WBC title holder, Tyson Fury, earlier this year, forcing him into a fight against WBA mandatory challenger, Dubois.
Joyce famously defeated Dubois by TKO in 2020 to claim the British title, birthing a rivalry between the domestic duo.
Now, with Dubois challenging for world honours for the first time in his career, the only man who has defeated him admitted that he could pull off the upset, in an interview with Seconds Out.
“I think that he has got a chance, because Dubois hits very hard, but is he going to be able to hit Usyk? He will be dancing around, moving, hitting him.
I’d like to see that [Dubois win] and then he could bring the titles back to the UK, then I can beat him for them, again.
It’s a very tough fight but I think Usyk is probably going to do it. Dubois has got a punchers chance and he’s got a very big punch, if he can land a few shots, he could have him wobbling all over the place.”
Usyk will make a second defence of his three heavyweight titles, against Dubois on August 26 in an event that can be watched live on TNT Sport (formerly BT Sport) in the UK and on. ESPN + in America.