By Jack Tiernan: Joe Joyce is less than happy at hearing that the promoter for IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, Alex Krassuk, says he’ll begin negotiations with WBA Daniel Dubois this weekend after talks with WBC champ Tyson Fury collapsed.
Joyce (15-0, 14 KOs) owns a victory over Dubois (19-1, 18 KOs) three years ago in 2020, and naturally, he feels he should be the one getting a world title shot against unified champion Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) next instead of the guy he defeated.
Dubois’s promoter did a good job of maneuvering him into a position to challenge the highly vulnerable WBA secondary champion Trevor Bryan last June in Miami, and he easily stopped him in the fourth round to capture the belt.
With Dubois in possession of the WBA ‘regular’ title, it puts him in front of WBO mandatory Joyce and IBF mandatory Filip Hrgovic for a title shot against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Usyk.
“It would be frustrating, but I wouldn’t be surprised, especially in this sport,” said Joe Joyce to the Metro about Daniel Dubois facing IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk next.
‘I’ve been [WBO] interim for a while; that surely should mean something. I’m there; I have the interim belt. It could even mean the possibility of being elevated to world champion if I don’t get my shot soon. But we will see,” said Joyce.
It’s unlikely that Usyk will get stripped of his WBO title because he won’t make a move fighting someone if he feels that it will result in him losing a title.
Unfortunately for Joyce, he will have to continue to wait and hope to get a shot by next year because he’s clearly not going to be fighting for the WBO belt in 2023.
Dubois suffered a bad knee injury last December in his fight against Kevin Lerena in London, and it’s unknown if he will be able to return to the ring soon to challenge Usyk for his titles.
If Dubois cannot fight Usyk soon, the next mandatory in line to challenge him is Hrgovic. He’s the IBF mandatory. Hrgovic defeated Zhilei Zhang by a controversial 12 round unanimous decision last August in an IBF title eliminator to earn his spot to battle for that belt.
Joyce is fighting next month against Zhang on April 15th in a 12 round fight at the Copper Box Arena in London.