Joe ‘Juggernaut’ Joyce’s manager Adam Morallee says ideally he wants him to face Dillian Whyte or Joseph Parker in his next fight on September 24th, but he doesn’t see that as realistic.
If neither of those two heavyweights is interested in facing the unbeaten #1 WBO, #2 WBC Joyce (14-0, 13 KOs), Morallee says he’ll look to get Michael Hunter, Robert Helenius, or Tony Yoka to battle him on the 24th of September.
Those three heavyweights are getting up there in age, and they would be making a mistake to turn down a fight against Joyce that could potentially put them in a position to challenge for a world title if they won.
You could understand why Dillian Whyte wouldn’t want to face Joyce in September. Whyte was knocked out in six rounds by WBC champion Tyson Fury on April 23rd, and he’s probably going to take a couple of confidence boosters before he resumes facing first-tier opposition.
Last Saturday night, Joyce turned in a brutal fourth-round knockout of Christian Hammer (27-10, 17 KOs) at the Wembley Arena in London, England. Joyce wore Hammer down with body shots, stopping him for the fourth round after knocking him down twice.
Before this fight, Hammer hadn’t been knocked out in twelve years since his sixth-round KO defeat against Mariusz Wach in 2010.
“Joe ground him down, and it was a classic Juggernaut. What a great chin. Joe got hit a few too many times, but Joe has got a great engine and chopped the tree down,” said Joyce’s manager Adam Morallee to Fight Hub TV after his fourth-round knockout of Christian Hammer last Saturday night.
“Well, I’d like Joyce to fight Dillian Whyte or Joseph Parker. I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon. So then you go down and look at interesting fights like Michael Hunter, Robert Helenius, and Tony Yoka would be a great fight. But a lot of these people are coming off losses.
“Frank Sanchez, WBO #3, that’s a possibility. But it’s so difficult getting opponents for Joe Joyce because, after two or three rounds, it’s very difficult.
“I said yesterday, that he would go to the body. Chop-chop-chop and I thought it would go six or seven rounds, but it went four rounds.
“Yeah, everybody said it from day one about Joe, ‘What if he goes in with a concussive puncher, what happens then?'” said Morallee about Joyce getting hit a lot with overhand rights from Hammer. “He went in there with [Daniel] Dubois and the same thing happened.
“Sometimes someone has a natural style. He does take a lot of punches, but when he gets hit on the way in, he’s delivering punches. It’s part of Joe’s style.
“Yes, we want him to get hit less and he’s with [coach Ismael] Salas, but Joe is always a bit of a slow starter. I think you’ll see as the fight moves on, Joe will move his head more.
“You can’t worry about it,” said Morallee when asked if he’ll be worried about Joyce when he takes on the likes of Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder.
“It’s something to work on. Everyone has things to work on, but what I’d like to emphasize is the positives tonight. Joe has come back from a broken arm. He’s showed a tremendous engine and a tremendous chin.
“Joe didn’t even get out of second gear there. Christian Hammer after two rounds looked like he’d gone 15 rounds. He could barely get up, and was begging for it to be stopped.
“I don’t want to disrespect Christian Hammer that way,” said Morallee when asked if the Hammer fight was a tune-up to get Joyce ready for his September 24th contest, which is expected to be against a tougher foe.
“He’s [Hammer] an international level opponent, and has gone 12 rounds with Tyson Fury, 12 rounds with Luis Ortiz, and in his last fight, 12 rounds with WBO #3 Frank Sanchez. He’s not some bum. He’s a very solid international-level guy.
“Yes, we’re realistic. We know he’s not a top 10 guy, but Joe Joyce was just coming back from an injury, and I think it was an excellent performance.
“24th of September,” Morallee said when asked about Joyce’s next fight date. “Listen, it’s going to be top 20. We’re going through the whole top 20.
“Obviously, people like AJ, Tyson, and Usyk are out of the equation. So we’ll go through the top 20 and find someone for Joyce.
