By Scott Gilfoid: 2016 Olympic super heavyweight silver medalist Joe ‘Juggernaut’ Joyce (1-0, 1 KOs) will be making his second pro fight on February 16 against an opponent still to be determined at York Hall in London, England.
Joyce looks like the real deal. He’s got the size, mobility, power and boxing skills to be a world champion. The only thing that is holding Joyce back is the ranking. He’s not rated as of yet in the top tier in the division.
The 32-year-old Joyce is expected to get an upgrade from the last opponent he faced in Ian Lewison. Joyce’s management want to push him faster to a world title shot due to his age, and his past Olympic experience. Joyce doesn’t need to spend 25 to 30 fights in the pros before getting a world title shot. He’ll be ready to fight for a world title by 2019 or even earlier if the possibility were there for him to challenge for a belt.
Being that Joyce isn’t rated in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies, he’s going to need to fight someone good and very soon if he wants to get ranked. IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn isn’t likely going to give Joyce a voluntary title shot against his fighter. If Joyce were signed to Hearn’s Matchroom Sport stable, then of course, he’d be a shoe in to get a crack at Joshua in 2019, but that’s not the situation he’s in.
Joyce will likely need to be ranked at No.1 as Joshua’s mandatory challenger before he can get a fight with him. Even then, it’s likely that he won’t get the fight until one of the sanctioning bodies orders the fight. As such, we’re probably looking at Joyce not getting a fight with Joshua until 2020. That’s if Joshua is still the IBF/WBA champion. If Deontay Wilder beats Joshua in 2018, then he’ll likely agree to fight Joyce in a voluntary defense. Wilder has shown more willingness to take risks with his career than we’re seeing with Joshua.
The ‘Juggernaut’ looked good in making his pro debut in beating domestic level fighter Ian Lewison by an 8th round knockout in his pro debut on October 10 at the Indigo at The O2 in London. The 6’6” Joyce did a better job of beating Lewison than Dillian Whyte had last year in September in stopping him in the 10th round.
Joyce needs to go after the top heavyweights in the UK like Dillian Whyte, Dereck Chisora and Daniel Dubois. Anyone of those guys would be perfect for him.