Oleksandr Usyk vs. Joe Joyce? It’s possible.
Usyk, the mandatory challenger to Anthony Joshua’s WBO heavyweight title, has thus far refused — at least publicly — to step aside so Joshua can fight Tyson Fury for all four major belts in a two-fight series.
However, Frank Warren, Joyce’s promoter, told IFL TV that talks between his No. 2-ranked client and Usyk for the sanctioning body’s “interim” title are underway. Of course, Usyk would have to agree to that.
“We’re working on at the moment, Usyk and Joe Joyce,” Warren said. “I think the WBO will order that as an interim title fight, so we’re working hard to make that happen. The situation is that the WBO have said they’d like to do that fight as an eliminator.
“We have no objection to that, and I don’t think Usyk has. There’s been some preliminary talks and we’ll see where we go from there. I hope [the fight happen]. It’s a good fight and I think whoever wins it, based on his last performance, Joe’s looking really good.
“If he comes through it, it puts the winner in a tremendous position. The eventual winner of the two fights between Tyson and A.J. will have to defend against Joyce or Usyk, or vacate the belt.”
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Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs) has suggested he would force Joshua to vacate the title — or get stripped — rather than stepping aside.
The Ukrainian is a former unified cruiserweight champion who is 2-0 as a heavyweight, having stopped Chazz Witherspoon in October 2019 and outpointed Derek Chisora this past October.
Joyce (12-0, 11 KOs) is coming off a break-through 10th-round knockout of Daniel Dubois in November, which put him in the title picture.