London heavyweights Joe Joyce and Derek Chisora will headline at The O2 on Saturday July 27 when the “Juggernaut” will be confronted by “War”.
It is a domestic collision that appears to have been on the table for some time, with Joyce (16-2, 15 KOs), having been calling out the name of the veteran formerly known as Delboy since 2019.
Two-time world title challenger Chisora (34-13, 23) rebounded from his stoppage defeat to Tyson Fury in late 2022 with a decision victory over Gerald Washington in August of last year at The O2. Names such as Carlos Takam, Dillian Whyte, Senad Gashi, Artur Szpilka, Oleksandr Usyk, Joseph Parker and Kubrat Pullev have featured on the Finchley man’s CV since 2018.
Joyce has also mixed in strong company, recording victories over Takam, Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker before coming off second best in back-to-back fights against the Chinese giant Zhilei Zhang.
The Putney man got his name back in the win column in Birmingham back in March when he defeated Kash Ali via a 10th round stoppage.
Both fighters are striving to return to the buoyant top end of the world heavyweight division that is currently dominating the landscape in fight sports.
“This is a proper old school heavyweight fight that seems to have been a long time in the making,” said promoter Frank Warren. “I remember it being talked about strongly even before we teamed up with Joe and it has always struck me as a natural and obvious fight to make.
“Two top London heavies fighting it out for a place back at the top table promises to deliver a cracking scrap. The winner is right back in business, with no real place to go for the loser.”
The full undercard including Dennis McCann, Henry Turner, Archie Sharp, Sean Noakes and Aadam Hamed, plus more will be announced in the coming weeks.