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By Jeff Aronow: Marco Huck suffered a hand injury in training, and he won’t be able to face Joe ‘The Juggernaut’ Joyce on January 11 for the EBU heavyweight title in Hannover, Germany. The management for the unbeaten Joyce (10-0, 9 KOs) and former WBO cruiserweight champion Huck (41-5-1, 28 KOs) are planning on rescheduling the fight.

Huck suffered a broken right hand in sparring, according to @MichaelBensonn. This is a big letdown for a lot of boxing fans, because they were looking forward to seeing this fight. Joyce hasn’t fought too many live bodies since turning professional, and Huck would be a step up.

With older fighter like Huck, 35, injuries are expected. Joyce and his management should have factored that into the equation when they decided to make this fight. This could eat up a lot of valuable time in Joyce’s career for him to wait until Huck’s hand heels, and he can face him.

At 34, Joyce cannot afford to devote an entire year on just one lower level fight. If this was a title shot against IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, then it wouldn’t be a big deal if the fight were delayed. Joyce would still be getting a huge payday against him as soon as the fight took place.

Joyce’s manager Sam Jones surprisingly sounded upbeat after hearing the news of Huck’s injury, and he’s promising a big year for the Juggernaut.

Huck didn’t want to miss his 🦃 dinner did he ! It’s all good it is what it is Joe is extremely positive he is going to have a week off and enjoy Christmas Then I promise you all a HUGE 2020 …. Doubters will become believers 🎄❤️ #THEJUGGERNAUT

— Sam Jones (@mrsamjones88) December 23, 2019

Daniel Dubois would be an excellent backup for Joyce

There’s no word right now whether Joyce will look to schedule another opponent for early 2020. A lot of people would love to see Joyce battle Daniel Dubois (14-0, 13 KOs) in the first half of next year. That would be a huge fight. Joyce and Sam Jones attended Dubois’ fight last Saturday night against heavyweight contender Kyotaro Fujimoto. Neither were too impressed with his opponent.

Dubois stopped the 33-year-old Fujimoto in the 2nd round to claim the vacant World Boxing Council Silver title. That’s a belt that could prove valuable for Joyce in getting a world title shot against the winner of the Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury rematch in February.

Fighting Dubois would be a far more meaningful fight for Joyce than battling Huck. There’s a lot more upside for the 6’6″ Joyce facing Dubois than the 35-year-old Huck, but there would be risk.