By Charles Brun: #2 WBO Joe ‘Juggernaut’ Joyce wants the winner of the September 25th fight between Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk fight.
First, Joyce (12-0, 11 KOs) must beat Carlos Takam (39-5-1, 28 KOs) this month in their first fight on July 24th at the Wembley Arena in London, England. Joyce won’t be given a world title shot straightaway after beating Takam.
He’s going to likely have to wait until 2023 before he gets a shot at AJ, as he’s expected to fight the winner of the Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder 3 match in early 2022. After that, if Joshua is still champion, he’ll probably finish the year with a mandatory defense against Dillian Whyte.
Joyce and the 40-year-old Takam are fighting a WBO title eliminator, with the winner mandatory to WBC champion Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs).
It’s unknown why the World Boxing Organization sanctioned the Joyce-Takam fight to be a WBO title eliminator, considering that Takam isn’t ranked in the top 10.
If you look at the rankings, it doesn’t make sense for Joyce to be fighting an old unranked guy like Takam in a WBO title eliminator when there are plenty of more deserving contenders that Joe could and should be fighting instead.
Charles Brun doesn’t understand why the WBO would sanction Joyce vs. Takam, given the low ranking of Carlos. Why isn’t Joyce fighting one of these top 10 contenders in the WBO’s ranking?
#3 Joseph Parker
#4 Andy Ruiz Jr
#5 Frank Sanchez
#6 Michael Hunter
#7 Luis Ortiz
#9 Evgeny Romanov
#10 Efe Ajagba
Joyce, ranked #2, you can understanding taking part in a title eliminator with the WBO, but not Takam. That’s a bit strange, but oh well, it probably doesn’t matter that much.
The 2016 Olympic super heavyweight silver medalist Joyce,35, wants to fight Joshua. That’s his preference, but it’s not up to Joyce. He’s got to wait for the cards to play out between Joshua and the current WBO mandatory Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs) and hope that AJ wins.
“I will happily take on whoever wins, but I would love the opportunity to fight Joshua,” said ‘The Juggernaut’ Joyce on the AJ vs. Usyk fight on September 25th.
“I think he [Joshua] will want to fight (Tyson) Fury, so we will have to see what happens there, but I am on the WBO track and looking to be made mandatory,” Joyce continued.
There’s no guesswork involved in what Joshua will be fighting next if he wins his September 25th title defense against Usyk.
Joshua has already made it clear to the world that he wants to fight WBC champion Fury for the undisputed championship. If Fury loses to Wilder on October 9th, Joshua will face Deontay in early 2022 with all four belts on the line, provided the fight can be successfully negotiated.
Joyce is not a huge fight for Joshua because he is mostly known domestically and not to the worldwide boxing audience.
It’s great that Joyce picked up a big win over Daniel Dubois last November with his tenth-round stoppage victory.
But it’s a terrible look on Joyce’s part to be taking a HUGE step backward by fighting 40-year-old Takam, who journeyman Derek Chisora knocked out.
If you’re Joyce, you got to keep the momentum going with your career by taking on a contender like Andy Ruiz Jr, Frank Sanchez, or Felip Hrgovic rather than digging up an old second-tier fighter and fighting that guy in a WBO title eliminator.
It’s unclear whether Joyce came up with the idea of fighting Takam or his management. Either way, it’s a wrong-headed move, but it shows concern about Joyce potentially losing.
“I think Usyk could be a tricky fight for Joshua, but he should knock him out sooner or later, you would think,” said Joyce in making a prediction.
“Usyk is no joke. He is an Olympic gold medallist, a very skilled southpaw, so he will probably pose Joshua problems with his good footwork and ringcraft,” said Joyce.
Well, if Usyk wins, it could be a nightmare for Joyce if he has to fight him for his title shot. Usyk already beat Joyce by a five-round decision in the World Series of Boxing, and he showed that he had his number.
Joyce doesn’t match up well with either Usyk or Joshua because they both bring something to the table that is beyond his skill set.