Joe Joyce was told by Oleksandr Usyk to be patient after messaging him to demand a heavyweight showdown.
Usyk has had a hugely successful stint in the heavyweight division since making the switch as an undisputed cruiserweight champion, which has included back-to-back wins over Anthony Joshua. The Ukrainian star became unified world champion with victory over Joshua in 2021, before retaining his belts in a Middle East rematch in August.
It is expected he will now face Tyson Fury for a shot at earning all the belts, but he will not be short of challenges if a fight fails to materialise, including from mandatory challenger Joyce. And 'The Juggernaut' has revealed he tried to push through a potential dust-up before Usyk fought Joshua for the first time.
He told iD Boxing : “I have messaged him and direct messaged him on Instagram, this was before the Joshua fight and our names were being lined up and he was like ‘no, patience, patience’. Then obviously he got the Joshua fight and beat him twice but that’s definitely a fight I’d like to have.”
Joyce fought Usyk as an amateur in a World Series of Boxing clash in 2013, which ended in defeat for the Briton who fell to a wide points defeat. Since that clash, Joyce has made huge strides in his professional career where he is currently undefeated and the leading world title contender with the WBO.
The former Olympian became the first man to stop Joseph Parker late last year and is now eyeing a shot at the winner of Usyk's expected clash with Fury. The Ukrainian is yet to be defeated in his professional career to date and despite failing to beat his rival in the amateur ranks, Joyce believes his skills would now see his hand raised.
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"He's a tricky boxer and I'm coming for him," Joyce told Sky Sports. "It'll be an exciting fight because he can live with me until the twelfth round. He showed that against Joshua. However Joshua wasn't throwing as many punches as I would. When someone hasn't got power I tend to step in. With Usyk it's about landing the punches.
"He sets traps, he's a very tricky boxer and moves his head, good footwork and steps in and out of range avoiding shots so he's quite hard to hit. So you can have as much punch power as you want but if you're not landing the shots then there's no point.
"But because I throw such a variety of shots, a lot of them will be the ones that get through and start wearing him down over the twelve rounds. I'm sure he won't be able to hack it after a certain point. He won't be able to keep up."
