JOE JOYCE hopes Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk happens so he can fight the winner and leave damaged Daniel Dubois out of the firing line.
The 37-year-old Putney Juggernaut is as frustrated as any other boxing fan at the ongoing negotiations between Ukraine’s WBA, IBF and WBO champ and the goal-post moving WBC Gypsy King.
If the undisputed decider happens on April 29 then the Olympic silver medalist – who lost to Usyk as a novice amateur – would be high in the queue to face the winner thanks to his WBO mandatory position.
But 25-year-old Daniel Dubois is ahead of him chronologically as the WBA need to have their mandatory first – even though Joyce handily beat his fellow Londoner in a 2020 clash.
Ahead of his April 15 battle with Chinese giant Zhilei Zhang, Joyce told SunSport: “I hope it gets done because it should keep things straight forward.
“In theory, Fury and Usyk will fight, I will beat Zhang and fight the winner.
“I have always got on well with Fury, sparred him a couple of times and he has always spoken well about me so I hope to fight them both at some stage.
“It would just be better to fight one of them for all of the belts.
“I know the WBA is the next mandatory to be called – and that’s Dubois – but I don’t think he is ready.
“I saw his last fight at Tottenham stadium where he was almost knocked out so he would get slapped up by Usyk or Fury!”
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Fury has continued to move the goalposts for his historic showdown with Usyk.
And the Ukranian’s team are doubtful the fight will come to fruition.
Promoter Alexander Krassuyk told talkSPORT: “As Usyk said, the greedy belly is still hoping to find a way to pull out.
“We knew before and know it now.
“As soon as Usyk accepts a no rematch clause there will still be searching for another thing to find and pull out the fight.
“I tell you why. He bluffed and Usyk called his bluff. This is 100 per cent. He didn’t expect Usyk to accept 70/30.
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“He was not in a training camp and we say the next morning the theatrical performance that he was pretending to jog and fight someone in the ring.
“It’s all about nothing. He’s not prepared and scared to fight.
“He will try to find a way to avoid Usyk for as long as possible.
“We don’t trust him, we don’t believe him.
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“One more thing to know, when we started the negotiations, Fury’s side was the first to ask for the rematch.
“Fury were the first to ask for the rematch and we supported this.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
