Tyson Fury has declared that Joe Joyce is the second best heavyweight in the world, overtaking Deontay Wilder in his official rankings.
The Manchester native was at ringside as he watched Joyce knock out his teammate Joseph Parker on Saturday night, and told fans that he had rewatched the fight since. He also checked out recent showings from other heavyweights on the fringes of the division's top table, including Filip Hrgovic and Zhilei Zhang, declaring Joyce the best of the bunch.
He also claimed there is a slight chance Joyce may be No.1, ahead of himself, and that the pair would have to find out by squaring off against one another in future. They are both signed to Frank Warren, whom he tagged in his video speculating on a potential bout between the pair.
"I've had a lovely day of watching boxing," Fury told fans in an Instagram video. "Watching all of the big fights and studying all of the heavyweights. I've got to say that big Joe Joyce is the second best heavyweight in the world, behind myself. And on his day, given his moment, who knows if he could beat me or not? I think we'll have to find out one of the days.
"I've just looked at these prospects who are mandatories for the world titles; Zhang, Hrgovic, everybody else. I've changed my mind and I think big Joe Joyce is the No.2 heavyweight in the world. And who knows if he's No.1? One day, we'll have to find out who's better out of me and him.
"But at the moment, I'm ruling the roost because I'm world heavyweight champion and he's not. But he's f***ing coming for everybody, don't you worry about that. Come on big Joe!"
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Fury had previously insisted that Wilder was the No.2, ahead of current unified champion Oleksandr Usyk and former champion Anthony Joshua, who are widely considered to be among the conversation. Fury believes Usyk is too small to properly compete at heavyweight and has been unimpressed with Joshua after he lost three of his last five fights.
Fury is currently preparing for a ring return on December 3, with his team scrambling to get a fight with Joshua over the line. However, it appears now that he is more keen on a fight with Mahmoud Charr, a much less dangerous opponent who has been knocked out three times during his career.
Charr appears to be deep in training camp, and Fury has claimed that Joshua missed a self-imposed 5pm deadline to sign up for their fight on Monday. He has since been reposting videos on Instagram shared by Charr, and seems much more likely to take that fight than one against Joshua.
