By Shaun Murphy-
Egoistic Anthony Joshua has no right to be talking big because his recent performances have not been that good.
This was the message from unbeaten British heavyweight Joe Joyce in response to Joshua’s recent suggestion he would stop unbeaten Joyce in one round. Joyce, 35, who remains unbeaten in 13 fights brushed aside the former world champion who has now lost twice in 24 fights. Joshua avenged his first defeat to Andy Ruiz Jnr on points.
Joshua is yet to avenge his latest loss to Olegsander Usyk, and the opportunity to get even with the quality Ukranian appeared to be slipping away when Usyk took up arms to fight for his country in the war against Russia, after the latter invaded Ukraine. An opportunity to have Joyce for an interim fight was available, but no deal was immediately pursued, instead harsh words were exchanged on social media.
Joyce promoter, Frank Warren expressed a willingness to make the fight happen whilst the situation with Usyk was unclear, and though Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, said he was prepared to match Joshua with either Wilder or Joyce, nothing happened until Usyk announced he was ready to defend his title. Joyce believes Joshua is worried about him now and beginning tot talk big.
The Juggernaut has accused Joshua of letting his ego go, telling the former undisputed world champion that he now poses a threat to him, and he is no longer the amateur kid he beat years ago.
He was responding to a clip of Joshua sparring a younger Joyce back in their Team GB days has recently been doing the rounds on social media and on YouTube. He led in a public spat on Twitter after Joyce threw his name into the hat to fight Joshua if Oleksandr Usyk was forced out of their rematch
Joyce told Metro.co.uk: “He leaked, or his team leaked, footage of sparring, all his best bits.
“Some of the sparring I have seen out there is from when we were drilling certain things.
“He can only throw left hooks, he can only throw straight arm shots, you can only throw bent arm shots, certain scenarios like that.
“I don’t know what is going with Joshua these days, I haven’t spoken to him or seen him in a long time. Something has gone to his head. He seems to be a lot more vocal on Twitter and I guess I kind of took the bait.
“Let’s see what happens. I would love to fight him one day and one day soon I hope. Let’s see how he gets on with Usyk and then we will be in touch.
“But if he loses to Uysk, I might think: ‘Why would I fight you?’ I want belts. He has already got the belts and lost them. I want to win the belts and keep them.”
He added: “The wrist is feeling strong and sturdy, I’m hitting my PBs for this year and I’ve started throwing punches again at realistic force and speed so I’m going from strength to strength.
“I’m throwing more combinations and I have picked up from where I left off. I’m at a good place, I just need to keep being careful and keep the healing process going.
“It [the world title picture] is tricky right now. But there is a route in mind. I just need to fight a few names and wait for my opportunity. I have got to stay active, stay ready and carry on.
“I have a good picture of where things are heading. Me and the team have a route and a plan.”
“Over the years when I was on the Team GB squad, I wasn’t a threat to him,” Joyce told The Metro. “As a pro, he was always up here, and I was down there, so it was the case of catching up. Now we are on the same level.
‘Now he is seeing me as that threat. Some of his recent performances haven’t been so good. Maybe he is not being as corporate and he is letting his ego go. He has always thought that, because he got that early victory when I was a novice [in 2011].
“I wasn’t quite ready for that, everything seemed to be stacked in his favour with that fight. For him to bring that up, [it shows] he has held onto that, beating me in one round. Now that I am a threat to him, he wants to make everyone aware that he knocked me out in a round.”
”Anthony Joshua is now ‘letting his ego go’, Joyce told The Metro, as he accused his heavyweight rival of leaking his ‘best bits’ of their now infamous sparring session.
Joshua’s proposed world title rematch with Oleksandr Usyk looked in serious jeopardy last month following the heavyweight champion’s decision to return to Ukraine following the Russian invasion.
While the fight is now back on, a number of fighters and promoters approached Joshua over an interim fight during that period of uncertainty, with Joyce, undefeated with 12 knockouts from his 13 victories, among them.
Former undisputed champ: Anthony Joshua Image: SkySports.Com
Joyce is back in training, and decided to attack Joshua’s credibility, even as the Londoner prepares for the fight of his career in June.
‘He leaked, or his team leaked, footage of sparring, all his best bits,’ Joyce told Metro.co.uk on behalf of FreeBets.com.
‘Some of the sparring I have seen out there is from when we were drilling certain things. He can only throw left hooks, he can only throw straight arm shots, you can only throw bent arm shots, certain scenarios like that.
‘I don’t know what is going with Joshua these days, I haven’t spoken to him or seen him in a long time. Something has gone to his head. He seems to be a lot more vocal on Twitter and I guess I kind of took the bait.
‘Let’s see what happens. I would love to fight him one day and one day soon I hope. Let’s see how he gets on with Usyk and then we will be in touch.
‘But if he loses to Uysk, I might think: ‘Why would I fight you?’ I want belts. He has already got the belts and lost them. I want to win the belts and keep them.’
Joshua is expected to change his tactics against Usyk in his summer rematch and put it all on the line in order to secure a major win. A second defeat will be embarrassing for Joshua and could mark the end of what started out as a successful career.