By Charles Brun: Joe Joyce may end up sitting for the two years before the WBO orders his mandated title shot against whoever holds the belt by that point. Given the long wait that Joyce will have, he’s got to stay busy looking for the best money fights available.
Dillian Whyte, the WBC mandatory, is in the same position, needing to wait what could be a year or two before the World Boxing Council orders the fight.
An ideal fight for boxing fans would be for Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) and Joyce to square off in a huge domestic fight in the UK.
Whyte is planning on fighting in late August or, more likely, the September on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs. Caleb Plant card.
Adding Whyte vs. Joyce to the card would be an outstanding fight to help increase interest from the British fans.
Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn plans to match him against American Jermaine Franklin next, but that fight does nothing for Dillian, U.S fans, or Canelo-Plant card.
It’s not a good fight because Franklin is completely unknown to U.S fans. Joyce is better known in the U.S than Jermaine Franklin. However, we don’t know if Whyte is purposefully going to be taking on weak opposition until he gets his title shot against whoever holds the WBC title by the time the fight is ordered in one or two years.
If Whyte is going to fight lower-level opposition like Franklin until he gets his shot, it will be hard for him to sell his fights on Sky Box Office. They’re going to expect quality, and he’s not going to be giving it to them if he chooses to play it safe for the next one to two years.
Last weekend, Joyce (13-0, 12 KOs) solidified his position as the WBO secondary mandatory behind Oleksandr Usyk by stopping Carlos Takam in the sixth round in London.
Joyce vs. Whyte would do big business
“Who knows who will have the titles at that point,” said Chris Mannix to DAZN about Joyce needing to likely wait two years before he’s given a crack at the WBO title. “But if you’re Joyce, you’re kind of in a good situation because there are money fights out there for you.
“They’re not title fights, but there are money fights. I think Andy Ruiz Jr vs. Joe Joyce is an excellent fight, probably over here in the U.S.
“Domestically, I was going to say, Joe Joyce vs. Dillian Whyte. Dillian was going to fight in August or September.
“You can make the Joe Joyce vs. Dillian Whyte fight in the UK in front of a massive crowd and do that before the first quarter of 2022.
“Derek Chisora is still out there. He’s not what he used to be but Chisora against Joe Joyce, which has been discussed in the past.
“That could be a big domestic fight. I know he [Joyce] wants to be heavyweight champion, but that’s probably not in the cards at this point because of the politics of it, but he can still make himself a ton of money with these big-time fights that are available to him,” said Mannix about Joyce.
You can forget about Joyce fighting Derek Chisora because Delboy has already made it clear that he has no desire to take this fight. He said last weekend that he’d be fighting Joseph Parker next.
If Whyte is willing to take a risky fight, Joyce would be perfect for him. Both guys would get a big paycheck, and they’d increase their popularity worldwide.
Moreover, it would help make their eventual title shots bigger, be it against Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, or Deontay Wilder.
Whyte has no excuse not to fight Joyce at this time because he’s been facing weak opposition since his loss to Joshua. Recently, Whyte has fought Alexander Povetkin, 41, and Marius Wach, 40.
Dillian isn’t fighting high-level opposition, and yet he was still knocked cold by Povetkin in 2020.
Yeah, Whyte avenged the loss, but against a depleted-looking Povetkin after he’d recently recovered from a bout with COVID-19.
Joyce can’t afford to wait
“I don’t know, but I know for Joe Joyce, the time is now,” said Chris Mannix to DAZN when asked if Joyce can compete with the top heavyweights.
“I mean, as you mentioned, he started late. He was in the Olympics in 2016. He doesn’t have the luxury of being patient and waiting two or three years to get one of these big fights.
“I think it would be challenging for him against an upper-echelon guy like Joshua or Tyson Fury. But when you face Joe Joyce, you’ve got to be ready to go the distance.
“Joe Joyce, he’s not going to get knocked out. At least the version I’ve seen in the last few fights. You’re going to be able to land some shots against him.
“Bryant Jennings landed shots against him, Daniel Dubois landed shots against him, and early on in that fight, Carlos Takam landed shots against him.
“But Joe Joyce keeps coming; he keeps throwing that jab out there. While those punches that he throws are incredibly slow, he does land a decent amount of them, and they have some zing behind them,” Mannix said.
Joyce can’t afford to sit and play it safe the way Whyte has been doing with his career. That’s not going to work for Joyce because he’ll miss out on many big paydays if he chooses to fight weak opposition.
If Dillian doesn’t have the courage to fight Joyce, then Joe would need to try and coax Andy Ruis Jr, Luis Ortiz, or Filip Hrgovic to fight him.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn will likely not be agreeable to a fight between Joyce and Hrgovic, as he promotes that guy.
It wouldn’t be good for Hearn if Joyce knocks out Hrgovic and ruins his chance to fight for a world title one of these days.
WBO could make Joyce wait for 2 years
“I wouldn’t favor Joe Joyce against the top guys, but you’re going against Joe Joyce at your own peril,” said Mannix. “You’re going in, and you got to be prepared for 12 rounds.
“He [Joyce] kind of reminds me of the second half of his career George Foreman in a way. Foreman wasn’t a volume puncher at that point.
“He was looking for a big shot to change the course of a fight. But you also couldn’t move George Foreman. I’ve had this conversation with Evander Holyfield before.
“You could hit him with everything, but you couldn’t move him. It’s kind of the same thing with at least the B and C-level with Joe Joyce.
“They don’t gain much,” Mannix said when asked what does Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury gain from fighting Joyce.
“If your Joe Joyce, while you are in a mandatory position now to fight the winner of Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk, that’s not coming.
“The WBO can and likely will make Joe Joyce wait two years before he gets that opportunity. He’ll be 37-years-old by the time he’s mandated that opportunity,” said Mannix about Joyce.
It’s reasonable to assume that Joyce will need to wait two years before getting a title shot against the WBO champion. Charles Brun would be very, very surprised if Joshua is still the champion by that point.
Usyk, Fury, or Wilder will likely beat Joshua, and his career will be on skidrow. That’s not important to Joyce. The Juggernaut wants his title shot against whoever holds the WBO strap.