By Charles Brun: Joe Joyce’s manager Sam Jones says he thinks Dereck Chisora has no interest in facing Joe ‘The Juggernaut’ Joyce on October 26 on the Regis Prograis vs. Josh Taylor card at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Jones says Chisora wanted £5 million in the past to fight Joyce, and he sees that as a sign that he’s not serious about facing the 2016 Olympic silver medalist.
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn said this week that Joyce (10-0, 9 KOs) was one of the potential opponents for Chisora to face on the 26th of October. Chisora had planned on fighting former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker, but he had to pull out after being bitten by a spider. Hearn said he “might” make an offer to Joyce to fight Chisora.
Hearn doesn’t sound serious about making Chisora-Joyce fight
The word “might” from Hearn gives the impression that he’s not all in about having Joyce fight Chisora for some reason. It’s possible that Hearn doesn’t want to risk having Chisora lose, because that would foul things up for him later on down the road. Hearn has a big stable of heavyweights with his Matchroom company. If Joyce beats Chisora, then he won’t be as useful to him.
Here’s what Hearn said earlier this week to IFL TV about possibly making an offer to Joyce to fight Chisora:
“We might make an offer to Joe Joyce. No, not yet,” said Hearn when asked if he’ d contacted Sam Jones. “I think we can make Joe Joyce against Chisora.”
Johnny Nelson said on Friday that he thinks Chisora will be fighting David Price next. He says it’s just a hunch that he has that the 36-year-old Price (25-6, 20 KOs) will be picked as Chisora’s opponent. Chisora vs. Price would interest some boxing fans curious to see how badly this fight ends up for Pricey, but it’s NOT a competitive match.
Basically Chisora-Price is a similar fight to Chisora’s last contest against Artur Szpilka on July 20. Like Price, Szpilka has shown problems with his punch resistance during his career. It was a fight that Chisora couldn’t lose. He came out and stopped Szpilka in the 2nd round in a fight that many boxing fans felt was a farce. Chisora vs. Price would an identical fight.
Joe Joyce won’t put career on hold waiting on Chisora negotiations
“Chisora, David Haye offered Chisora the fight year ago for Joe [Joyce] to fight him on two or three occasions,” said Sam Jones to IFL TV. “I’m a fan of Chisora by the way. I like Dereck Chisora, but he don’t want to fight Joe. Frank Warren has offered him good money; more money than what he was getting for the [Joseph] Parker fight to fight Joe on BT Sport. He don’t want to fight. I think what Eddie Hearn is saying it to try and build momentum. If Dereck wants to fight Joe, then call Frank Warren. They have a good relationship. Call George Warren or Frank Warren.
If you want to bring Joe on that side, then you call George Warren or Frank Warren, and we do it that way. Right now, Joe’s priority is the EBU title that he’s mandatory for. Joe’s not putting his career on hold for fights that are ‘if’ and ‘maybe’ that won’t happen. I don’t believe it’ll happen [Chisora vs. Joyce],” said Jones.
Hearn expected to select Chisora’s next opponent by the end of the weekend
According to Hearn, he’ll have Chisora’s next opponent for October 26th nailed down by the end of this weekend. So it’s not a good sign that Hearn still hasn’t contacted Joyce’s manager Jones to try and setup a fight with Chisora.
As of Friday, this was the list of opponents Hearn was looking at for Chisora to fight on October 26:
- David Price
- Manuel Charr
- Oscar Rivas
- Michael Hunter
Hearn already ruled out Otto Wallin and Alexander Povetkin as options for Chisora. It’s common knowledge that Hearn wants to match Hunter against Povetkin on December 7 on the Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua card. If you take Hunter out, that leaves Price, Charr or Rivas. You can argue that Rivas is just too good for Chisora, so he probably won’t get the fight. The chances are high that Rivas would beat Chisora. That leaves Price and Charr. What a pair. Who would want to see Chisora fight either of those guys on Sky Box Office?
Chisora asked for £5 million quid to fight Joyce says Sam Jones
“I don’t think Dereck wants to fight Joe,” said Jones. He asked for £5 million quid to fight Joe. Come on, it’s not going to happen. I think realistically it’s not going to happen, but I would love the fight. We’d absolutely love the fight. It would be huge for the fans. It’s a bigger fight than the Parker fight domestically. I spoke to Frank and George a couple of days ago. They would love to make the fight, but just because someone said to him. I could say, I would love Joe to fight Anthony Joshua, but it’s not going to happen, is it?
“Just because someone said that it might happen. You heard what Eddie said. Eddie said, ‘He might call me.’ Someone contact George Warren at Queensbury if you really want to make that fight, but right now our priority is the EBU title that Joe has been mandatory for in the last six months against [Marco] Huck. The fights going to happen.
“We don’t care if it’s in Germany…we just want the belt. Povetkin don’t want the fight. David Price, he’s doing what’s best for him, but he doesn’t want to fight Joe. Dereck Chisora doesn’t want to fight Joe, so we’re doing what’s next in the list. He’s been nominated by the EBU to fight Joe,” said Jones.
Is Chisora worth £5M quid?
$5 million quid is a heck of a lot of money to be asking for by a fringe contender. Chisora hasn’t fought for a world title since February 2012 when he lost to WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko. Vitali threw Chisora a bone by giving him a title shot, even though he’d lost 2 out of his last 3 fights going into that contest. What contenders get world title shots with a 1-2 record in their last 3 fights?
Sam wants Hearn to contact Warren to negotiate Chisora vs. Joyce fight
“Get in contact with George Warren if you’re serious, because that’s Joe’s promoter,” said Jones when asked what message he has for Eddie Hearn in terms of making the Chisora vs. Joyce fight for October 26. “David Haye needs to contact. What people don’t realize is Dereck Chisora is a free agent. He does fight by fight deals with Eddie. So Chisora can go fight Joe in the main event on BT Sport. Not co-main event like he is with Josh Taylor and Prograis. He could be main event.
“Come fight Joe on BT Sport in December, and be main event and get paid more money. Joe would love to fight Chisora. Come fight him on BT Sport on December the 21st. It would be a huge fight. Joe against Chisora, and Price against Dubois. Imagine how good that card would be. It’s a huge card. And Dereck isn’t contractually. He’s with David [Haye], but they work fight by fight with Eddie,” said Jones.
Joyce and Jones shouldn’t hold their breath waiting for Hearn to contact the Warrens to setup a fight with Chisora, because it’s not looking good right now. We’re probably going to hear the news of Chisora facing Price any day now.
