By Shaun Murphy-
Frank Warren says he believes Anthony Joshua’s team is not prepared to accept an offer to face Joe Joyce, after he approached the rival promotion company, Matchroom, for Joe Joyce to fight Anthony Joshua.
The veteran promoter says Eddie Hearn will not accept an offer he has made for the all-British heavyweight showdown between Joshua and Joyce, who is unbeaten in 13 fights. Hearns recently said Anthony Joshua had given him a shortlist of heavyweights he was prepared to fight, a list which included Deontey Wilder and Joe Joyce.
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Frank Warren has recently made proposals to team Hearns for a summer clash with his man, but has expressed doubt that the former world champion’s team are serious about considering Joyce for an interim bout before an opportunity to regain the titles he lost in September to Olegsander Usyk.
The pair have recently exchanged insults on social media, and footage of an old sparring between the pair in which they exchange heavy blows, has recently surfaced. Sparring is known to be much different to real fights, but can still provides some indication of what to expect between two fighters.
A clash with between Joshua and Joyce could slightly make up for the aborted fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, after the former was defeated by Olegsander Usyk.
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Joshua has been left looking for an opponent to fight around May or June, after it became known that Oleksandr Usyk was committed to defending his native Ukraine , which is caught up in a war brought about by an invasion from Russia.
As a result, Usyk won’t be able to defend the IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA (super) heavyweight titles he won from Joshua last September in the contractually obligated rematch – not yet anyway.
Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, says the two-time world champion gave him a shortlist of guys he would be willing to fight in the interim and Deontay Wilder was at the top of that list.
Unbeaten: Joe Joyce could pose a threat to Anthony Joshua Image:Joe Joyce
“What have you got to lose? I fancy Joe,” Warren said. “For Joe, you look at the two fighters: Joe has got a tremendous chin, he’s got great stamina. They talk about what happened to him as an amateur, well they’re not amateurs anymore, they’re pros.
“If you look at how they’ve got on since they’ve become pros, AJ has done brilliantly. He became world champion. He’s also been beaten twice and he’s been exposed, certainly in his last fight. Very exposed. And I fancy Joe can knock him over.
“We have made initial contact but I don’t think they’ll go with it. If they want it, they can have it,” Warren stated.
Joshua has previously expressed confidence he would knock out Joyce in just one round.
Unbeaten Joyce showed just how resilient he can be when he absorbed heavy blows from Daniel Dubois in 2019, eventually stopping him in 10 rounds in November 2020.
Meanwhile, Dubois himself fancies his chances against the formerly world heavyweight champion, and wants a crack at Joshua.
Me and Joshua would be a massive fight,” Dubois told i. “That would be a great dust-up. “If that were to happen next, I’d be all for it. These guys, I want them next.”
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