AFTER crushing Lenroy Thomas to win the Commonwealth heavyweight title in May, Joe Joyce makes his first defence, at York Hall on Friday (June 15). Joe knows little about his challenger, Ghanaโs Richard Lartey but is relaxed.
โThatโs not a problem Iโve had a lot of fights in the amateurs on the domestic scene where you donโt know who youโre going to fight. Iโm just prepared. Iโve had a good training camp and Iโm ready,โ Joyce said. โIโm happy Iโve got a belt now and I think my technique and style has improved thanks to [Ismael] Salas. I think itโs been the right move for me signing with Hayemaker Ringstar because Iโve progressed quite a lot through the rankings. I started off with a big statement [knocking out Ian Lewison on his debut] and the last fight was a big statement too. So Iโm just going to keep moving forward.โ
On Friday expect Joyce to continue his advance with bruising force. He remains ambitious. Bryant Jennings, a former world title challenger, is looking for an opponent now Joseph Parker is boxing Dillian Whyte. Joe eagerly offered his services and called for a fight with Jennings. โItโs a good fight. Itโs a step up as well, it would put me in a good place, should I beat him,โ he said.
Closer to home, British champion Hughie Fury is a natural fight for the Commonwealth heavyweight titlist. Joyce however is not holding his breath. โI heard maybe Peter [Fury, Hughieโs uncle and trainer] saying they werenโt going to take the fight. Heโs got the belt and heโs going to vacate and move on to bigger and better things, which is understandable. Heโs had a world title fight with Joseph Parker, heโs gone and won the British. Heโs going to go a different route,โ Joyce said. โIโd like to fight for the British title at some point. Itโs a lovely belt. But Iโm not going to hang around and wait to get the opportunity to fight for the British title, Iโd prefer to move on to bigger and better things.
โI sparred with Hughie and Tyson [Fury] as well. Really good. Theyโre both very hard to hit, probably Tyson a bit more than Hughie because Tyson switches, so does Hughie, but even when he was at 20, 30 stone when I sparred him, he was still very hard to hit and awkward. He punches from different angles. Hughieโs quite slick is really hard to hit too and quite defensive. That could be a potential fight.โ