Joe Joyce wants to fight against Oleksandr Usyk in April 2021

Joe ‘Juggernaut’ Joyce is eager to return to the ring. The European heavyweight champion, after his convincing victory before the limit last November 28th with which he defused the rising-star 23-year-old Daniel ‘Dynamite’ Dubois (15-1, 14KOs) and won the continental title (as well as the British one, the Commonwealth, the WBO International and the WBC Silver category), has gained the second place in the heavyweight WBO ranking. Precisely for this reason Joe Joyce has asked the boxing federation to be able to fight the current No. 1 in the ranking: Oleksandr Usyk.

At the moment the world title is in the hands of Anthony Joshua, but there is a reasonable risk that the British super-champion will vacate the title in order to fight Tyson Fury in a thrilling heavyweight reunification fight. In fact, if Joshua will not be able to find a compromise with his official challenger, Oleksandr Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs), and the WBO, Joshua will be forced to leave the belt. This is something we have extensively discussed in this article. However, if this agreement between the parties were found, in the meantime, and the Joshua-Fury fight would be green-lighted also by the WBO and Oleksandr Usyk, the Ukrainian boxer would probably be proposed to fight Joe Joyce (12-0, 11KOs). From a technical perspective, this would be a great experience for Oleksandr Usyk to fight a big boy like Joyce in view of a potential clash with Anthony Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) or Tyson Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs).

Several pundits and commentators have highlighted the fact that Oleksandr Usyk is “too small” for the two British champions, especially Tyson Fury. Such a view is also shared by other fighters who consider Usyk way to “short” and “light” for the heavyweight division. Tyson Fury himself has commented that Usyk will be “slaughtered like a lamb” in the current heavyweight division.

Going back to Joe Joyce, his manager Sam Jones, stated that they won’t be waiting for an answer much longer saying that he is open to wait for two weeks maximum. During an interview with Sky Sport, Sam Jones mentioned that Joe Joyce wants to be back in the ring in April and he is expecting the WBO to order Joyce and Uysk to have a world elimination. Sam Jones is aware that all depends on the Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury situation and when such a fight is about to be organized, the rest of the boxers can only wait and see. However, according to Sam Jones, Joe Joyce’s promoter Frank Warren has been already notified that the British boxer is happy with an immediate fight against Oleksandr Usyk.

Sam Jones continued in the interview stating that, despite Joyce would be the underdog, he is very confident that Joyce can win against Usyk and, finally, Joe Joyce will face the winner of the potential super-fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.