Joe Joyce has responded to leaked footage of his sparring with Anthony Joshua by claiming fans only saw the "best bits" of the infamous session.
'The Juggernaut' traded verbal jabs with his fellow former Olympian on Twitter last month after he emerged as a potential interim opponent if Joshua was unable to rematch Oleksandr Usyk. Sparring footage of around 40 seconds was then leaked on social media which appeared to show Joyce being dominated by Joshua.
However Joyce has confirmed that he plans to get in touch regarding a potential fight with Joshua after his bid to become three-time heavyweight champion later this year. "He leaked, or his team leaked, footage of sparring, all his best bits," Joyce told The Metro.
"Some of the sparring I have seen out there is from when we were drilling certain things. He can only throw left hooks, he can only throw straight arm shots, you can only throw bent arm shots, certain scenarios like that. I don’t know what is going with Joshua these days, I haven’t spoken to him or seen him in a long time.
"Something has gone to his head. He seems to be a lot more vocal on Twitter and I guess I kind of took the bait. Let’s see what happens. I would love to fight him one day and one day soon I hope. Let’s see how he gets on with Usyk and then we will be in touch. But if he loses to Usyk, I might think: ‘Why would I fight you?’ I want belts. He has already got the belts and lost them. I want to win the belts and keep them."
Joyce and Joshua began their feud on social media last month with the former two-time champion laughing off claims he would "duck" his rival, tweeting: "Lol ok… I’ve shared this ring with most people you see in the heavyweight division today! I boxed Joe and stopped him in one round. I’d do the same thing today! Ain’t nothing changed."
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The Juggernaut quickly clapped back, posting: "You're having a meltdown, where’s all your belts? All those sponsorships and endorsements helping? You’re a glass cannon, quit the act, you were given everything #easymode." He later had his final say: "By the way, I told you five days ago let’s get it on my yout! Check your Twitter. You ducked it."
Joshua is now expected to fight Usyk after the Ukrainian confirmed he would return to training for the rematch after taking up arms in the war against Russian invasion on native soil. The Briton could be in a position to set up an undisputed title clash against the winner of Tyson Fury's clash with Dillian Whyte providing he can execute a revenge plan later this year.
