Joe Joyce, unbeaten and the interim WBO heavyweight champ, claims to have “overtaken” former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Joyce – who faces Zhilei Zhang next Saturday (April 15) in what is a dangerous fight for both big men – is adamant that he would knock Joshua out should the two get it on. Joyce and AJ have sparred many rounds in the past, and it’s up to who you believe when it comes to who got the better of it during those sessions.
But now, a fight between the two would be most welcome by the fans. And Joyce, speaking with Sky Sports, stated how Joshua is “ripe for the picking.”
“I’d knock both of them out with their performance the other night,” Joyce said of AJ and Jermain Franklin, who Joshua outpointed. “I’d definitely force a stoppage on Franklin and Joshua’s ripe for the picking. He seems to have gone back, in my opinion, a bit backwards. Hasn’t progressed. I was always trying to catch up with him, but now I’ve overtaken him. I haven’t caught up to him financially yet, so I need to have those big fights. I’m a threat and he would prefer that [Dillian Whyte] fight.”
While Joyce has his next fight set, against “Big Bang,” fans are waiting to see who Joshua will fight next. Eddie Hearn has said that “100 percent” AJ will be back in the ring in July. If this proves to be true, it will be the quickest turnaround Joshua has made since way back in April of 2017, when AJ fought Wladimir Klitschko just four months after his win over Eric Molina. Will Joshua really stay active this year? As fans know, you have to go back to 2016 to find a time when Joshua had more than two fights inside one year.
With talk of a possible fight with Tyson Fury floating around, and with talk of AJ fighting Whyte, or Otto Wallin, or some other guy next, it seems Joshua could fight just about anyone next. But will Joyce ever get his chance at AJ? First, “The Juggernaut” has to get through Zhang. Interestingly, Joyce says Joshua (who beat Zhang in the Olympics) was offered this fight himself but he wanted no part of the big guy from China.