By Robert Segal: Joe Joyce will be returning to the ring in March following his spectacular victory over Joseph Parker last Saturday night.
There’s no word who Joyce will be fighting in March, but it’ll likely be a top 20 opponent. It probably won’t be a fighter in the class of Parker because he’s already set himself up as the interim WBO champion.
Joyce is now waiting for his title shot against unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. He’s not going to blow that chance by fighting someone risky.
Joyce (15-0, 14 KOs) became the first person to knock out the former WBO heavyweight champion Parker (30-3, 21 KOs). With the KO in the 11th at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, Joyce accomplished what Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte could not.
“Usyk, Fury, maybe Joshua, I don’t know,” said Joe Joyce to October Red Boxing when asked who’s next for him in his fight in March. “If Usyk and Fury don’t want to fight me, I’ll be elevated to WBO champion anyway if they don’t want to fight me.
“From there, I can defend it or whatever. There are options. It feels good. I’m going to recover now, have a holiday and chill out. It looks like I’ll probably be out in March,” said Joyce.
“Tyson Fury will fight Usyk in February or March next year. I think Tyson Fury wins that fight,” said Sam Jones to iFL TV. “Tyson might retire for a year or vacate the WBO. Joe will be elevated to the WBO. Joe will become heavyweight champion, and he deserves it.
“That performance last night was worthy of winning a world heavyweight title. Last night, thousands of people saw how good he was. Now the UK fans will think, ‘I want to go to a Joe Joyce fight night.’
Credit to Joseph Parker. He was the smaller guy. He was massive, Joseph Parker, he was big. He was still the smaller guy. It just showed how much balls Joseph Parker had.
“Tyson Fury watched that, and he’s thinking, ‘He’ll give me a good run for my money. Joe Joyce is near 20 stone. Tyson Fury is not bullying Joe Joyce. No chance.
“He could outbox Joe, but he’s not stopping him. He’s [Fury] got to be on it for 12 rounds because Joe will be breathing down your neck for 12 rounds, punching you in places that you didn’t know existed,” said Jones.
