Joe Joyce fires warning to heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk; says If Usyk doesn’t want to fight me then he has to vacate the belt.
Joe Joyce has fired warning to Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk following his dominant victory over Joseph Parker.
Joyce knocked out Parker after their match got to the 11th round on Saturday.
The victory has seen Joyce hold the interim title from the WBO and could push to fight Usyk.
“If Usyk doesn’t want to fight me then he has to vacate the belt and then I get elevated to full champion. From there, I can defend the belt,” Joyce told Sky Sports News.
“I think I would start to get to him,” Joyce warned, “if I can keep the pressure up. He is a very skilful fighter, but at this level it’s all going to be tough from here on in.”
Both fighters have fought in the past when they were amateur, but Joyce lost to Usyk on points as a rematch was promised then.
Joyce claims he will be more prepared if he wants to fight the heavyweight champion as he wants a different story from the last time.
“This time I would be more prepared and have a proper training camp geared towards him. It’s over 12 rounds with smaller gloves and I’ve come a long way since then. It was a long time ago,” he said.
“It takes 10 years to reach sporting excellence. I’ve surpassed that and I’m still learning, so it would be a great fight over 12 rounds.”
Joyce has now proven himself a serious operator for anyone in the weight class. “That was the next jump into the elite bracket. [Parker] is a top fighter, ex world champion, so it was a great victory for me. I think I did a good job and the future is bright – I look forward to the next couple of fights coming up,” Joyce said.
“Lots of credit to Joseph Parker, he is a tough guy. I was hitting him with everything and he was still coming back with three or four punches in between and I had to really push to get the victory.
“I didn’t have to fight Joseph Parker, but it then pushed me up to the next level.”
Meanwhile, Tyson Fury also eye a fight with Usyk as the British boxer says he will come out of retirement to fight him.
