JOE JOYCE has been dubbed “tougher” than Tyson Fury – by a man who has sparred with both heavyweights.
The British bruisers are at the very top of the heavyweight heap – with WBC title holder Fury seen by many as the best of the bunch.
Bridgerweight contender Alen Babic knows a thing or two about the pair having spent countless hours trading blows with them in the gym.
And the Croatian clubber believes Joyce’s toughness is second to none in the division.
He told talkSPORT: “I sparred Joe Joyce, we did close to 25 rounds in three days and I rate him the highest and I’ve sparred them all.
“I rate Joyce the highest because he’s a tough mother***er and he’s relentless, he has a good punch and I didn’t know that.
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“It doesn’t look like he has that powerful a punch, but his hands are very heavy, a heavy-handed guy.
“And he has an engine like myself, he doesn’t stop and he is double the size of me with the same engine, it’s crazy.”
He added: “I put Joyce on top of the list, the top two heavyweights.
“He is the toughest fight for anybody and he’s an Olympian so you can add that on top of the cake.”
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Joyce, 37, has been the most devastating heavyweight of the last three years – stopping Daniel Dubois, Carlos Takam, Christian Hammer and Joseph Parker in his last four outings.
But his destructive run hasn’t stopped former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua from entertaining a domestic dust-up with him.
Babic said of a potential Battle of Britain between the former sparring partners: “I think Joshua is very brave to take that fight.
“I think Joe Joyce is the dark horse of the heavyweight division and he is the toughest opponent for everybody, including Tyson Fury and [Oleksandr] Usyk, but I think Joe Joyce is the guy who should be feared.
“I’ve felt his power and we had crazy rounds, I think I did good, I maybe even snatched a few rounds.
“But sparring is my game, I am even better in sparring than in fights and Joe Joyce proved himself to the ‘Savage’ so I think Joshua is very brave to go after Joe Joyce.”
Interim WBO heavyweight champ Joyce will be back in action a week on Saturday against China’s Zhilei Zhang at the Copperbox Arena.
Joshua, meanwhile, will look to return to the ring in the summer following a scrappy points victory over Jermaine Franklin last weekend.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
