Joe Joyce could accept a fight prior to any rematch with Zhilei Zhang after he was brutally stopped by the Chinese contender.
The Juggernaut accepted a difficult outing against Zhang as he aimed to keep busy prior to any potential title shot against Oleksandr Usyk or Tyson Fury. However, he was left stunned by his Chinese rival who put on a clinical display to stop Joyce who was unable to continue after suffering a damaging eye injury.
After being left stunned by the dominant display from Zhang, Joyce could now have the option to try for immediate redemption having added a rematch clause to the fight contract. But after a damaging defeat, the 36-year-old has admitted he could first look to bounce back from his first career beating against a new opponent.
"We're going to discuss it," Joyce said to BBC Sport after the stunning defeat. "I could have one in between. I'm just going to decide. I'm going to have some time off and reflect and watch the tape back and see where I went wrong. I've had my loss but I'll be back. The journey will continue "I can still see through [the eye], I think it's just bruised.
"It's a formality to go to the hospital now to check it's not fractured or anything. It looks like I've got a terminator eye now. It's unfortunate but I'll be back. I thought I was doing well in there. I couldn't get away from his straight left. He kept on nailing me in the eye and it swelled up my eye.
"That's what happens when you take risks. Sometimes it doesn't go your way which is it's annoying. I thought I'd reach a victory here and it's just disappointing I didn't."
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Despite the defeat being a bitter pill to swallow, Joyce will need to get back in action as soon as he can if he is to revive his world title charge. A number of big fights could potentially still be on the table for the former Olympian including a domestic clash with Dillian Whyte.
It remains unclear if the 'Body Snatcher' could emerge as the leading option after Joyce's crushing loss, but Whyte delivered a call-out from ringside insisting he would take the fight. He said: “Maybe [they should] do an eight-man tournament and include me. An eight-man tournament and include me and Joe Joyce. An eight-man tournament would be amazing.
“That’s what heavyweight boxing’s all about – drama and excitement. That’s what we need to do, try and big back that drama and excitement. That would force everyone to fight everyone. Yeah, Joe Joyce is definitely a fight I want. I want the biggest fights and obviously Anthony Joshua ’s not fighting me, Tyson Fury’s not fighting me, so I’d love to fight Joe Joyce.”
