Joe Joyce is arguably the man with the biggest hype train surrounding him in the heavyweight division following his dominant display against Joseph Parker in September.
Despite the win making the British fighter mandatory for Oleksandr Usyk’s WBO belt, the unified champion has said that he has no interest in facing him.
The boxing public universally applauded ‘The Juggernaut’s eleventh round knockout victory over New Zealand’s Joseph Parker last month, with Joyce’s chin now being proclaimed as the best in the world by many amazed fans.
This has increased the belief that Joyce is capable of becoming a world champion, and the man who stands in his way is Usyk.
Unfortunately for Joyce, the Ukrainian told Seconds Out that he does not want to fight the Brit.
“No, I don’t want to fight with him, he’s like a tank. Did you watch him fighting? No, I don’t want to fight him. Leaving jokes aside, I want to fight for belts. I’m hungry, before I leave, I want to explain to you, I need to fight for the belts.”
Usyk and Joyce have crossed paths before, with Usyk winning all five rounds of their fight in the amateurs. However, every boxer tells of how different the professional game is the amateurs, and Joyce’s improvements and ability to walk through punches could prove to be the kryptonite that stops Usyk winning rounds. On the other hand, Joyce is regarded by some as one of the divisions slower movers – something that could play right into the champion’s skill set.
Perhaps we’ll never know, because, for now, Usyk is clearly focussed on belts – but with Joyce his next challenger, he should hope to make the undisputed fight with Tyson Fury soon before the WBO call for the mandatory to be settled.