The head of Queensberry Promotions, Frank Warren, announced the return of his top heavyweight Joe Joyce (14-0, 13 KOs) to the ring in about three months. But it is yet to be seen when the London puncher, a mandatory WBO contender since last year, can be taken out for a title shot.
Yesterday, July 2, Joyce ended almost a 50-week downtime by 4 rounds ahead of grated kalach Christian Hammer.
“He will fight on September 24th,” Warren confirmed in a comment to BT Sports. “We’ll sit down with Joe and talk about the competition and see what’s next.”
36-year-old Joyce is still waiting for who will win at the end of the summer in a rematch between Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) and Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) for the WBA / IBF / WBO titles. It is expected that the winner will have to make at least one mandatory defense of one of the versions before thinking about the fight for the absolute against WBC champion Tyson Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs).
Video of the knockout and the best moments of the Joyce-Hammer fight
Joe, of course, would like to be the one to jump at the opportunity, even thinking about Usyk, Joshua and Fury after the win. But the promoter is in no hurry to make statements.
“On August 20, when the rematch between Usyk and AJ takes place, everything will shake up. One way or another,” Warren said without being specific, reaffirming his commitment to the practical “one step at a time” tactic.
On the eve of the fight with Hammer, Joyce’s coach told how to beat Usyk, compared the strength of Joyce and Haye.
In order not to miss the most interesting news from the world of boxing and MMA, subscribe to us at
Facebook and
Google News.
