Joe Joyce is targeting the winner of Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk at the Emirates Stadium, after he became mandatory challenger to the WBO heavyweight title.
On Tuesday it was confirmed that Joshua would defend his WBA ‘Super’, WBO, IBF and IBO belts against WBO mandatory, Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 25th.
Joyce’s promoter Frank Warren announced on social media the 35-year-old’s new position with the governing body on the back of the announcement and the ‘Juggernaut’ who spent the day at the Emirates Stadium – home of Premier League football club, Arsenal – is hopeful of luring the winner to the 60,000 capacity ground.
“That would be a great one for the history books and there is a first time for everything,” Joyce said.
“The Emirates is an amazing stadium, so I am looking forward to it happening hopefully.
“I actually started off in East London and was born in Mile End. I lived with both my parents in Bethnal Green before they split up and my mum moved to Hackney, then Leytonstone, before we went south to Putney when I was six.
“I got to go to Highbury sometimes when one of my uncles took me because my dad wasn’t into football much so I didn’t get the chance to follow as closely as I would have liked.
“The first game I watched – I can’t remember how old I was, but I was pretty young at the time – was an Arsenal-Liverpool game in the era of Ian Wright and David Seaman.
“I have always been an Arsenal fan since school and soon I am getting to do a fishing show soon with my childhood heroes Wright and Seaman.”
Joyce looks to build on his November victory over Daniel Dubois when he faces former world title challenger Carlos Takam on Saturday night, in a clash broadcast on BT Sport in the UK and on FITE TV in the USA.
The Brit appeared on course for a showdown with Usyk, after the WBO ordered an interim title bout between the pair with Joshua and WBC tiltlist, Tyson Fury negotiating an undisputed clash.
However, with that falling through following an arbitrator’s decision to order a trilogy match-up between Fury and former champion, Deontay Wilder, the WBO reaffirmed Usyk’s status as mandatory to Joshua.
Takam, 40, had his own shot against ‘AJ’ in 2017, stopped in ten rounds after taking the fight at short notice and has stated that he has unfinished business with the heavyweight champion.
