Joe Joyce to fight on Wilder-Fury card on December 1

By Boxing News - 09/26/2018 - Comments

Image: Joe Joyce to fight on Wilder-Fury card on December 1

By Mike Smith: With a win over his opponent Iago Kiladze (26-3, 18 KOs) this Sunday, heavyweight prospect Joe Joyce (5-0, 5 KOs) will next be fighting on Showtime pay-per-view on the undercard of WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder’s mega-fight against former undisputed champion Tyson Fury on December 1 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

According to Dan Rafael, Joyce will be the first fight on the televised portion of the Wilder-Fury card against an opponent still to be determined. Joyce, 33, still needs to win his fight against Kiladze on Sunday for him to get the fight on the Wilder-Fury card. Joyce isn’t expected to lose to Kiladze, but if he does, then he can forget about fighting on the Wilder v. Fury card on Showtime PPV.

Having the huge 6’6” 250 pound Joyce on the Wilder vs. Fury card on December 1 will be a great addition, since it’ll get the fans psyched up for the main event depending on Joe fights. If Joyce’s management put him against a recognizable content, it’ll get the attention of the American and UK boxing fans that will be purchasing the card on PPV. Joyce is supposed to be getting pushed facst to get him a world title shot in a hurry. He can’t afford to spend too much time fighting the likes of Kiladze if he wants o get a world title shot by the time he’s 36-years-old.

Joyce turned pro in October 2017, and he’s put together some decent wins over Lenroy Thomas and Ian Lewison. Joyce needs to start facing at least fringe level contenders in the division so that he can begin his slow climb to a mandatory spot in the heavyweight rankings, because none of the current champions are going to give Joyce a title shot in a voluntary defense. Joyce will need to become a mandatory challenger for him to get a title shot.

“If everything goes well for Joe on Sunday night the plan is to have him on the pay-per-view,” Ringstar Sports promoter Richard Schaefer said to ESPN.com about Joyce. “I think having a big heavyweight like Joe on a card with a big heavyweight title fight in the main event would add to the telecast.”

Joyce won the Silver medal in the 2016 Olympics after losing a controversial decision to France’s Tony Yoka. A lot of fans thought Joyce deserved the victory over Yoka. It would be nice if Joyce is able to get a title shot against Wilder at some point in the near future. Both of them are with Al Haymon, so making the fight between them shouldn’t be that hard to do.

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