Fury changes mind: Joyce is No. 2 heavyweight and “coming for everybody”
Tyson Fury has changed his mind on Joe Joyce, and now believes his countryman is the No. 2 heavyweight in boxing.
Tyson Fury was ringside for Joe Joyce’s win over Joseph Parker last Saturday in Manchester, and while he did offer praise to both for a very good fight, he also said after the fight that while he thought Joyce was good, he didn’t think Joyce could land a punch on him over 12 rounds if they were to fight one another.
Fury (32-0-1, 23 KO) now appears to have changed his mind, saying that Joyce (15-0, 14 KO) is the second-best heavyweight in the sport after watching some fights to catch up on the division.
“I’ve had a lovely day of watching boxing, watching all the big fights and studying all the heavyweights, and I’ve got to say, that big Joe Joyce is the second-best heavyweight in the world behind meself,” Fury said in an Instagram story post.
“On his day, given his moment, who knows if he could beat me or not? I think we’ll have to find out one of the days. But just looked at these prospects, the mandatories for the world titles, (Zhilei) Zhang and (Filip) Hrgovic and everybody else, and I’ve changed me mind, I think big Joe Joyce is the No. 2 heavyweight in the world, and who knows if he’s No. 1?
“One day, we’ll have to find out who’s better between me and him. At the moment, I’m ruling the roost because I’m world heavyweight champion and he’s not, but he’s fucking coming for everybody, don’t you worry about that. Come on, big Joe!”
On Monday, Fury declared that negotiations to face Anthony Joshua on Dec. 3 were over, but everyone is still sort of waiting for that to be, like, “official” — in a sense, it is, because it was Fury’s offer to AJ, not the other way around, but there’s still going to be the belief that a deal will get done unless something else is announced for one of them.
Fury has been linked to a fight with Mahmoud Charr on that date now, while Joyce’s team say they’re up to face Fury at Principality Stadium in Cardiff in December. Frank Warren has both heavyweights and it would be a big fight.
Joyce also, however, has the interim WBO title, and really wants to go after the full belt, one of three held by Oleksandr Usyk. It’s all a bit up in the air who will do what next, but there’s a lot of interesting matchmaking to be had with Joe Joyce right now; in other words, don’t be surprised if Joyce winds up fighting Charr and we all get let down, because boxing is cruel.