Joe Joyce and Anthony Joshua are both set to return to the ring pretty soon, with Joyce coming back from an injury to face Christian Hammer in a stay-busy fight (to be kind) on July 2, and Joshua set for his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk on Aug. 20 in Saudi Arabia, which is now official, if you missed that.
Joyce (13-0, 12 KO) isn’t really known as a trash talker, but he has some thoughts on fellow Brit heavyweight star Joshua, as well as Oleksandr Usyk, Dillian Whyte, and Joseph Parker, who recently signed with Boxxer and Sky Sports instead of going through with a planned fight against Joyce.
On Anthony Joshua
“If by some miracle Joshua beats Usyk, he will have to face me or vacate the (WBO) belt. His chin has gone and I don’t think his heart is fully in the game anymore. He always talks about staying hungry, but the world can see he’s not hungry anymore for boxing. He’s a businessman more interested in lecturing students.”
On Oleksandr Usyk
“I’m No. 1 with the WBO. Usyk looks likely to beat Joshua again. When he does, I’m the mandatory and I’ll show you how a proper heavyweight in 10 oz gloves is supposed to deal with a man who lost to Shawn Porter in the amateurs. That Joe Joyce that (Usyk) boxed at the World Series of Boxing was not ‘The Juggernaut’; they put pillows on my fists so I couldn’t hurt him. No pillows this time!”
On Dillian Whyte
“Whyte was outclassed by Tyson Fury, he landed about three punches on him. We all know how he loves being a mandatory — he was mandatory for 7,000 days. Well, come and fight me and you get the chance to be mandatory again!”
On Joseph Parker
“Parker ducked me. Why would you sign with another promoter and another TV channel if you actually want the fight? He bottled it, plain and simple. He didn’t want the fight. Everything he asked for, he got. Demand after demand, he was given it.
“I liked the fight as it was WBO No. 1 vs No. 2. When he was just about to sign he told us his trainer was having a child so he couldn’t train him, then for another month him and his manager played games, delayed, and then last week he signed with another promoter!
“I honestly think that after he faced off with me at Wembley Stadium in April, he didn’t like what was staring back at him. No matter who he fights next, the fans know he ducked Joe Joyce.”