Frank Warren is unsure of what is next for Joe Joyce following his defeat to Derek Chisora after previously saying the loser would have nowhere to go.
The loss to Chisora marks Joyce’s third defeat in four fights and, now aged 38, there are question marks over whether he should continue. Warren went on record before the contest saying he felt a defeat to either man would leave them with limited options and retirement a real possibility. However, Joyce may have come away from the fight, but Warren had him winning before the final two rounds. The encounter exceeded expectations and after putting on another thriller, Joyce could follow in 40-year-old Chisora’s footsteps and fight on after another defeat.
“I don’t know yet [what’s next for Joe Joyce],” said Warren. “It’s too soon for them. I said I felt the loser of this fight would have nowhere to go, but I never expected it to be a fight like this. I thought it would be competitive, but I didn’t think it would be like this in a million years. Every fight on the card was a contender for fight of the year but that was just something else. I can’t think of another, Tyson [Fury] and Usyk, the class that they are, that was a tremendous heavyweight fight, and this at the level.
“It was a very close fight,” continued Warren. “It flowed backwards and forwards, but amazing. You look at their ages, I don’t know how Derek [Chisora] does it, I don’t know how Joe [Joyce] does it. They did not miss each other at times, every punch that they were throwing was connecting. I didn’t think there was much in it, I really didn’t, coming into that knockdown. Then you know, it’s a knockdown, so a 10-8 [round]. I thought Joe was winning the round until the knockdown, and the last round [Chisora] came back strong at the end of the round – that gave him the fight by a couple of rounds.”
Another heavyweight who impressed on the card was 19-year-old Moses Itauma, the youngster made light work of the usually tough Mariusz Wach, finishing him in two rounds. Wach has taken top heavyweight contenders the distance in the past and Warren believes Itauma made a statement by getting him out early. The young heavyweight didn’t just impress Warren with his performance but also unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk who was sitting ringside.
“That for me was a fight where I was hoping [Itauma] would get some rounds because I think he needs to get some rounds under his belt,” said Warren. “[Wach] has been the sort of gatekeeper for all the heavyweights coming through the ranks. Frazer Clarke, Hughie Fury, Dillian Whyte, and all the older ones going back over the years, and none of them stopped him. They weren’t young heavyweights when they fought him, certainly Frazer Clarke [wasn’t], Moses [Itauma] is 19, he’s a teenager. The way he dealt with him was unbelievable, Alex Krassyuk and Usyk both said, ‘This is the future of the heavyweight division.’ That was a statement from a 19-year-old kid.”