Joe Joyce is on the comeback trail but has spared a moment to send a warning to his British heavyweight rival Anthony Joshua ahead of his fight with Francis Ngannou.
Joshua and Ngannou are set to come to blows on March 8 out in Saudi Arabia. Joshua will be hoping to use Ngannou as a yardstick against which the boxing world can compare his performance against the former UFC champion with Tyson Fury’s.
WBC and Lineal champion Fury infamously struggled to really dominate Ngannou when they fought back in October, which led to much talk of his decline and also saw Ngannou being ranked in the WBC Top 10.
Whoever wins this coming together of the two big men will be in line to take on the winner of the Oleksandr Usyk versus Fury undisputed fight on February 17.
Joyce, who is set to return to the ring on March 16 against Kash Ali following two tough losses to Zhilei Zhang in 2023, has spoken to Queensbury about Joshua’s next fight.
“Great fight, I am looking forward to that. Both can really hit, heavy hitters. I think style-wise Ngannou is a little bit inexperienced in boxing, and Joshua he actually looked better in his last performance than previous ones.
“He hits very hard so I think it’s going to be a great fight man Ngannou, the way he fought Fury and got the only knockdown in the fight, I think it will be a great fight.”
When asked to call it, he struggled.
“I don’t know, because if Ngannou hits him with a big shot and he can’t get up from it then…? It’s a pretty 50/50 fight.”
The 10-round fight will be shown live on DAZN on a Friday due to the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit also being held that weekend.