After looking like it would not happen the crunch heavyweight clash between Joe Joyce and Joseph Parker is close to being back on.
Back in April the fight was announced during the Tyson Fury-Dillian Whyte BT Sports Box Office pay-per-view but in the weeks that followed everything fell apart.
Parker’s manager David Higgins revealed that negotiations were still ongoing and when the New Zealander signed a promotional agreement with Boxxer a fall-out between both parties soon followed.
In June Parker’s promoter Ben Shalom made an offer to Joyce’s team to put the fight on Sky Sports Box Office but it was turned down.
Joyce still fought in July at Wembley Arena but in the opposite corner was Christian Hammer instead of the former WBO heavyweight champion. The unbeaten Brit eventually got rid of the German in four rounds.
This week speculation has resurfaced that Joyce v Parker is back at the table and Boxing Social can confirm that is very much the case.
We reached out to Shalom but received no comment. However, Parker told us:
“Nothing confirmed. A few fights are being worked on at the minute including that one.”
Joyce’s promoter Frank Warren seemed more upbeat that the fight would be made telling Boxing Social:
“I think we’ve done it.”
Today looks like being a pivotal day in the resuscitated negotiations. September 24 in Manchester has been the rumoured date and location for Joyce v Parker, but nothing is definite yet.
One stumbling block would appear to be the broadcast rights with Joyce fighting on BT Sports and Parker now on Sky Sports.
For the bout to take place it will either have to be a joint broadcast or see the more likely scenario of either Joyce or Parker fighting on the other side for one night only.
In the current world rankings Joyce is nearing his first world title shot and would put his WBO mandatory challenger position on the line against number two contender Parker.
Should Joyce v Parker go ahead then the winner would go forward and fight for the title, currently held by Oleksandr Usyk, in 2023.