Joe Joyce was rooting for Daniel Dubois to knock off Oleksandr Usyk.
Dubois is a fellow British boxer, a former teammate on Nice Britain’s novice squad they usually’re each represented by Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions. If Dubois had upset Ukraine’s Usyk, Joyce knew avenging his personal loss to Zhilei Zhang on Saturday evening in London would’ve arrange a marketable home rematch between Dubois and Joyce for the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles.
Whereas all these elements made excellent enterprise sense to Joyce, the previous WBO interim champion couldn’t assist however really feel irritated whereas watching Dubois get a title shot he believes he ought to’ve obtained earlier than he took what was in the end too dangerous of an elective combat towards Zhang.
Joyce knocked out Dubois (19-2, 18 KOs) within the tenth spherical of their November 2020 bout in London, however Dubois later received the WBA’s secondary crown and moved in entrance of Joyce in line for a title shot as a result of the WBA was forward of the WBO within the rotation agreed upon by boxing’s sanctioning organizations. Uysk (21-1, 14 KOs) knocked Dubois down as soon as apiece within the eighth and ninth rounds and received by ninth-round knockout August 26 at Tarczynski Enviornment Wroclaw, a soccer stadium in Wroclaw, Poland.
Joyce agreed to combat China’s Zhang as a result of the WBA and the IBF had been forward of the WBO within the rotation for necessary challengers and Joyce didn’t wish to be inactive whereas ready for a title shot. Zhang (25-1-1, 20 KOs) upset Joyce (15-1, 14 KOs) by sixth-round technical knockout April 15 at Copper Field Enviornment in London, however Joyce activated the instant rematch clause in his contract for that elective title protection.
“It was irritating that it was the man I beat convincingly that acquired the shot earlier than me,” Joyce instructed BoxingScene.com. “And it bothers me that I used to be as soon as the WBA gold [champion] and paid the sanctioning charges, after which I used to be fully out of that [mix]. That’s a route I might’ve taken, however I did the WBO route and I’m in that place once more. However to should lose to Zhang, once I was so shut and I might’ve simply waited and took a unique shot, it was fairly a tough time and lesson to study.”
London’s Joyce took his time earlier than he exercised his rematch clause, however the 2016 Olympic silver medalist realized that not preventing Zhang once more instantly wouldn’t have made a lot sense as a result of he’ll flip 38 on Tuesday.
“I don’t actually have time to piece my approach again one other approach, so I’ve to,” Joyce mentioned. “As a result of I might’ve had a combat within the meantime. Somebody might’ve fought Zhang as an alternative or Zhang might’ve had that chance on the WBO Joe Joyce On Usyk-Dubois: Was Irritating A Man I Beat Convincingly Acquired The Shot Earlier than Me. However because of this I enacted the instant rematch [clause], so I can get again in place.”
TNT Sports activities will televise the Zhang-Joyce rematch in the UK and Eire as the primary occasion of a multi-bout broadcast from OVO Enviornment Wembley (7 p.m. BST). ESPN+ will stream their second combat in the US, the place undercard protection is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. EDT and 11 a.m. PDT.
Keith Idec is a senior author/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He could be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.