JOE JOYCE could fight his way into a stadium world title fight against Tyson Fury in the summer.
Joyce returns tonight against Zhilei Zhang, 39, defending the WBO interim title he won against Joseph Parker, 31, in September.
And another statement victory could pave the way for the 2016 Olympic silver medallist, 37, to earn his shot at the big time.
Promoter George Warren told Sky Sports: “Joe is looking to put on a good performance, a devastating performance, like he did against Parker and keep building on that momentum.
“If Joyce comes through a tough fight with a big performance, he puts himself in that conversation.”
Joyce has been made to wait for his world title challenge after Fury, 34, and Usyk, 36, negotiated a unification bout.
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But the four-belt undisputed decider – the first in heavyweight history – collapsed amid a row over the split for a potential rematch.
As a result, Usyk has been ordered into a WBA mandatory defence against Daniel Dubois, 25, with talks ongoing.
It leaves Fury in need of a new opponent for the summer with the likes of Joyce and ex-champion Andy Ruiz Jr, 33, linked.
Warren, son of Hall of Famer Frank, revealed they are set for talks with the Gypsy King having reserved stadium venues for his return.
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He said to iFL TV: “The first question that Tyson has got to answer, and he’ll do that with us when we sit down address it. First, does he want to be active, does he want to fight?
“We’ve got some dates held; we’ve got stadiums held for the summer for him. If we’re going to be doing something for him, we’re going to need to hear that decision fairly soon.
“Then we can build up a short list of available opponents and ones that are actually available and want to do it and are serious about trying to make the fight with Tyson.
“We’ll assess that and try and make the best decision as to what’s available and can we make it work.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
