Joe Joyce feels old rival Daniel Dubois has had luck on his side in securing a world title showdown against Anthony Joshua at Wembley as he plots his own return to the summit of heavyweight boxing.
‘The Juggernaut’ was on the brink of a world title shot at the beginning of 2023 but two devastating knockout defeats to Zhilei Zhang sent him to the back of the queue.
After getting back to winning ways with a lowkey victory over Kash Ali in March, Joyce takes on the battle-hardened Derek Chisora in a bruising domestic dust-up in the capital on Saturday night.
Victory will breathe life into Joyce’s prospects once again and possibly send Chisora into retirement. But the 38-year-old will be watching on as his old foe Dubois competes on the biggest stage in September, fighting Joshua for the IBF heavyweight title in front of 90,000 at the home of English football.
Dubois has been on a roll over the last six months, producing a last-gasp knockout against Jarrell Miller in December before becoming the first man to beat Filip Hrgovic with a sublime performance against the Croatian in June.
Dubois became the ‘interim’ IBF champion with that win and has since been upgraded to a full world champion, immediately thrust into that titanic showdown with two-time heavyweight champion Joshua.
Joyce’s defeats to Zhang came at a huge cost, falling off the radar just as Saudi Arabia began to tighten its grip on heavyweight boxing with riches and opportunities flooding in for everyone around him. Perhaps most frustrating of all, Joyce already has a win over Dubois under his belt, outboxing the younger man in their 2020 bout before forcing his opponent to quit in the 10th round.
The Putney heavyweight went onto outlast and put down Joseph Parker in 2022 to become ‘interim’ WBO champion – but the chance to become an outright world champion never came.
While impressed with Dubois’ rise since their meeting four years ago, Joyce believes he has benefited from the rub of the green that deserted him when he needed it most.
‘He’s been very lucky and supported to get back in there,’ Joyce told Metro.co.uk, speaking of Dubois. ‘He fought for the IBF interim and got elevated straight away whereas when I got to the top of the WBA, a gold champion, I was stripped out of the rankings.
‘When I was WBO interim, I couldn’t go any higher. Instead of waiting, I fought some of the best around in Parker and Zhang. I would have still been waiting now if I hadn’t fought Zhang. Sometimes you have to be lucky as well as good.
‘He [Dubois] has looked good and I’m excited to see him AJ get on. I’ve seen them both sparring since the amateur days so it is an interesting one. AJ has improved a lot of late the last 12 months and beating Hrgovic was a huge step for Dubois too.’
Joyce believes victory this weekend will restore his status as a world title contender. Chisora, 40 years old and 47 fights into his career, stands in his way. ‘Del Boy’ has just two wins in his last six outings, taken apart by Tyson Fury in December 2022 before getting back to winning ways against Gerald Washington last August.
The Londoner has had a punishing career with the level of his performances and the damage sustained in those recent bouts worrying fight fans. Even last summer’s victory over Washington was unconvincing and did little to quieten calls for the veteran to call it a day.
Joyce faced a similar backlash following his heavy defeats to Zhang, forced to repeatedly dismiss talk of retirement. He knows better than anyone that a boxer’s decision over his future is his and his alone.
‘It’s a personal thing. Would you say to someone at work, ‘I think you better retire now’? You don’t know their situation,’ Joyce said.
‘Physically you can only go on until a certain age of course, when it’s medically safe. But it’s always down to the person. When you feel you have completed it, when you’ve done all you set out to do and when you’ve had enough. Or if the opportunities aren’t there anymore.
‘But at heavyweight, we go on longer anyway. We saw George Foreman doing it until he was 45. So we can never say never, especially when we’re talking about someone else. Only they can decide.’
At 38, Joyce admits there is no time left to waste if he is to become a world champion. With Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury not in rematch action until December, there could be space on the calendar for Saturday’s winner to take on Joshua or Dubois.
‘It only takes one or two fights to get back into that top position,’ Joyce said. ‘So I am within touching distance. I’m still in the top 10 so a win here puts me right back in that mix. Beat Derek, then we can can see what’s next.’
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