Manager Believes Vacant WBO Heavyweight Belt Will Be On The Line
As fans know, Joe Joyce and Joseph Parker will collide in an important heavyweight elimination bout in July. Joyce is the #1 WBO heavyweight contender while former champion Parker is currently ranked at #2. The winner will be in great shape, hoping for a shot at the title currently held by Oleksandr Usyk. However, Mike Borao, the manager of unbeaten Cuban heavyweight Frank Sanchez, believes the Usyk-Joshua rematch winner will vacate the WBO belt after the return fight – and Borao feels his guy Sanchez, who is currently ranked at #3 in the WBO rankings, will fight the Joyce-Parker winner for the vacant title.
“I really believe that ultimately Frank will fight the winner of Joyce and Parker for a vacant WBO title,” Borao told Sky Sports. “I don’t think Joyce and Parker are big enough names to entice the eventual winner of Usyk versus Joshua, so Frank will probably land on the winner of that fight for a first world title.”
Borao strongly feels Sanchez, 20-0(13) will be fighting for the WBO belt, and winning it, some time next year. Sanchez has picked up good solid wins over Efe Ejagba and Christian Hammer and the 29 year old clearly has skills, if not an especially exiting fighting style. Sanchez does look like the kind of heavyweight who would be a real headache for any fighter out there.
The Joyce-Parker fight is a tough one to call, pretty much a 50 50 affair, and it’s entirely possible the winner of this fight, whoever it is, will not exactly relish the idea of having to next go through the tricky and tough Sanchez straight after. Who comes out on top of this particular trio – Parker, Joyce or Sanchez? And will Usyk, if he beats Joshua a second time, really choose to vacate one of the three belts (WBA/IBF/WBO) he currently holds?
With the retirement of Tyson Fury, the winner of the Usyk-Joshua rematch will be seen by everyone as the top dog of the division, that’s for sure. But what might the winner’s next move be? Is Borao right, would the Usyk-Joshua winner fail to get motivated over a fight with Joyce, Parker or Sanchez?