Boxing News at Five: Joe Joyce hooks up with Al Haymon, and Tony Yoka disappears until next summer

Joe Joyce fight time

WITH an Olympic silver medal and five straight knockout wins as a pro, it was only a matter of time before undefeated heavyweight Joe Joyce attracted the attention of big players in America.

Frankly, it didnโ€™t take long. First, Joyce relocated to Big Bear, California to hook up with Abel Sanchez, a man best known for his work with Gennady Golovkin, and today Joyce announced a partnership with Al Haymon, as powerful as any man in the sport.

โ€œI am delighted to announce my management company, S-Jam Boxing, and I have teamed up with Al Haymon,โ€ he wrote on social media. โ€œI am excited to now have Al advising me in my career. My US debut will be announced imminently… The Juggernaut is coming!โ€

So far, Joyce has hardly put a foot wrong as a pro. He has won five fights on the bounce, taken the Commonwealth heavyweight title from Lenroy Thomas, and called out the following: Dereck Chisora, Jarrell Miller and Dillian Whyte.

Weโ€™ve been aware of of Joyceโ€™s ambition and intent for some time now, but in the last few weeks, thanks to hook-ups with Sanchez and Haymon, the Londoner has put any remaining scepticism to bed. He clearly means it all: the punches, the call-outs, the desire to be fast-tracked.

โ€˜The Juggernautโ€™ means business.

joe joyce


While Joe Joyce thrives as a professional, the man who controversially beat him at the 2016 Olympics, Franceโ€™s Tony Yoka, has had his career put on hold until next summer.

About time, too.

The 26-year-old was originally given a suspended two-year ban (reduced to a one-year ban) for failing to notify the authorities of his whereabouts for random drug-testing. He was, however, able to compete while appealing the ban.

This meant Yoka was free to box Britainโ€™s Dave Allen on June 23, a fight he won inside 10 rounds, and would have continued unabated had a judge not reinforced the suspension and issued a ban until summer 2019.

โ€œThe casualness of the behaviour of Mr Yoka, who, as an experienced sportsman, is particularly informed of the importance of doping tests and couldnโ€™t be unaware from the first warning of the consequences of his carelessness, doesnโ€™t allow us to seriously consider that the one-year suspension would be disproportionate,โ€ said the judge at Yokaโ€™s hearing.

The stop-start nature of Tony Yokaโ€™s pro career is neither here nor there. All his own doing, if a big-money rematch with Joe Joyce โ€“ undoubtedly a natural one in the pro ranks โ€“ fails to materialise, it wonโ€™t be due to Joyceโ€™s behaviour, thatโ€™s for sure.

Ofย far greater concern is the fact Yoka was allowed to box Dave Allen just seven weeks ago, at a time when rumours of performance-enhancing drugs continued to swirl.

โ€œThe Yoka drug thing put me off massively,โ€ Allen recently told Boxing News.ย โ€œIโ€™ve never been in the ring with a man that strong and fit. Iโ€™ve sparred some of the greatest heavyweights of the last 20 years and boxed some really good one and Tony Yoka was a million times fitter and stronger than all of them.

โ€œThat made me wonder, what the f**k was going on? It sickened me a bit. He made Anthony Joshua seem like a light-heavyweight. He was that strong.

โ€œEveryone told me he couldnโ€™t punch in the amateurs, but he was hitting me and I was thinking, are they mad?โ€

dave allen on tony yoka

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