Joe Joyce is siding with IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua to defeat challenger Oleksandr Usyk on September 25th.
Joyce (12-0, 11 KOs) says he’s not overlooking the threat the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Usky presents (18-0, 11 KOs), but he believes Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) will be much too powerful and too large for the 6’3″, 230+lb Usyk on the night.
Big punchers have only hurt Joshua during his eight-year professional career, but we don’t know if Usyk has improved his power with the strength training that he’s been doing.
A victory for Usyk will put Joshua in a tough spot in which he would need to decide whether to push for a rematch or just move on. If Joshua insists on fighting Usyk a second time, he could be putting his career on the line.
Usyk could cause an upset
“Who am I rooting for? I’m not too bothered,” said Joe Joyce to Boxing Social when asked who is he rooting for between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk in their fight on September 25th.
“I fought Usyk before, I fought Joshua before, but obviously Joshua is a GB teammate.
“I think he [Joshua] is too big and too strong for Usyk, but I’m not writing off Usyk because he’s so skilled, and he’s a great boxer too.
“I’ve got respect for both of them. He [Oleksandr] could cause an upset; he’s got the potential to, or nick the fight.
“We’ll see because he’s been working on his weight, so maybe his power might be his tactic. We’ll have to see what happens, but I’m edging for Joshua, obviously.
“He was just levels above me, especially at that time and coming off a gold medal win in London,” said Joyce about his fight with Usyk in the World Series of Boxing in 2012.
“He’s such a skilled fighter. He had 350 amateur bouts or something like that with a high win ratio, and especially with the trainer [Anatoliy] Lomachenko.
“The work he does with both of them is unreal. They’re doing hands down clap press-ups and freaking whatever calculations, but it gets the job done, so it’s exciting,” said Joyce.
With the size that Usyk is putting on in bulk weight training, he could have more power for his match with Joshua.
You have to assume that the Usyk that we’ve seen in the past will be a different fighter now that he’s added approximately 15 lbs to his frame. Joshua doesn’t have a great chin, and his stamina problems worsen the problem.
If Usyk can push a fast enough past to exhaust Joshua, he could be easy pickings to knockout in the championship rounds.
Joe Joyce to fight in October
“Yeah, I was pretty happy. I obviously took some shots, but that’s what I do in boxing,” said Joyce about his recent sixth round knockout win over Carlos Takam on July 24th.
“I was landing effectively, I felt, throughout the fight. But I felt the crowd reacted to myself getting hit with the shots a lot more.
“It made it a lot closer, but I felt pretty comfortable and happy just taking my time and landing the shots and working methodically to get him out of there.
“Yeah, he gave me his best shots and hit me with some bombs and tried to do what he could to beat me, but it wasn’t enough, and I had to stop him in the sixth.
“I don’t mind. I quite like to stay active and see what fights are out there,” said Joyce when he was asked about his WBO mandatory status.
“I’m thinking about getting out there in October again, but obviously, I’m the WBO mandatory.
“Not to take that lightly, so we’ll see what’s on the opponent’s list and what’s on the agenda and look forward to watching me out there again,” said Joe Joyce about his next fight in October.
Joyce wants to remain active, taking on top-tier opposition while he waits for his mandated WBO title shot against the Joshua vs. Usyk fight winner.
Derek Chisora is one of the guys Joyce is interested in facing next, but it could prove expensive to set that fight up.
Chisora recently said that Joyce’s promoters couldn’t afford to pay him the money he would want for that fight. If the fight with Chisora weren’t negotiated, these would be great options for Joyce:
- Michael Hunter
- Felip Hrgovic
- Joseph Parker
- Luis Ortiz
- Andy Ruiz Jr
- Frank Sanchez
- Jared Anderson
- Efe Ajagba
- Evgeny Romanov
- Charles Martin
There’s not a man in the top 10 that walks thru Usyk!U know nothing about boxing
I think Joe Joyce will surprise a lot of people. He has a great chin and engine he may have problems with Fury because the styles are wrong. Fury can avoid the slow punches he throws. But he could stop a tiring Joshua in the late rounds. He could easily stop Wilder because he is the one guy that can take Wilders shots. I think he walks through Usyk now as well.