Joe Joyce posed for a photo and face off with rising heavyweight prospect, Moses Itauma and now fans are tipping the 19-year-old to win a potential clash.
Itauma, who was described by Tyson Fury as the future of the heavyweight division, moved to 10 straight professional victories with a second round stoppage over veteran contender, Mariusz Wach in July, a card headlined by Joyce, who was dropped on the way to a unanimous decision loss to Derek Chisora.
Two years ago, Joyce was being given a good shot at beating the likes of Fury, Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua, but three defeats in four fights, including two to Zhilei Zhang, has left his career in tatters and surely shattered any world title dreams.
The 38-year-old insisted after defeat to Chisora that he would not hang up the gloves and a source close to Joyce’s camp has confirmed to proboxing-fans.com that the ‘Juggernaut’ intends to continue.
A picture posted on Saturday of Joyce and Itauma, who are both signed to Frank Warren’s Queensberry, alongside each other and facing off has increased speculation that the Hall of Fame promoter could look to set up a crossroads showdown between the pair.
View this post on Instagram
In an Instagram poll conducted by Pro Boxing Fans, a whopping 72% [176] of people picked Itauma to defeat his countryman who is 19 years his senior.
Despite his experience and pedigree, just 28% [68] of people backed the ‘Juggernaut’ to prevail.
The prospect of an immediate meeting appears unlikely though, with the BBBofC ordering Solomon Dacres to defend his English heavyweight title against Itauma.
The southpaw is already ranked at #10 with the WBO behind unified world champion, Usyk who faces Fury in a rematch on December 21 in Saudi Arabia.
The Chatham man has drawn comparisons with former undisputed heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson and he is intent on mirroring his rise to the top.
“I want to become the youngest heavyweight world champion since Mike Tyson who was 20 years old,” he told The Mirror.
“I need to take small steps but also ensure that I step up the tasks very quickly. I want to do short steps but not too much with them.
“Youngest ever world heavyweight champion is in my mid-term goals but it is something that I can believe I can achieve before 2025.
“It is not what I am thinking about right of this second, but I want to let that come once I have grown as a professional. I have gone from not having any press at all to this and it is crazy.
“I am in the right place because Frank Warren has all the other big heavyweights at the moment so I think I have a bright future.”
