Ahead of the rematch between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk, Joe Joyce has said that he would be confident in the event of facing either fighter as the mandatory challenger for the WBO belt, which Usyk currently holds. The Ukrainian won the WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA titles against Joshua last September and they will have their rematch in Saudi Arabia in August.
Joyce won the Olympic silver medal as an amateur in 2016 and has enjoyed an unbeaten start to his professional career, working his way to the top of the heavyweight division. He won the British, Commonwealth, WBC Silver, WBO International, and European heavyweight titles against Daniel Dubois in 2020 and will defend those titles against Christian Hammer on July 2nd.
Hammer is a late call-up to the fight after Joseph Parker pulled out of the fight and will be a tricky obstacle to navigate albeit not the calibre of former WBO heavyweight champion Parker. Hammer has a record of 26 wins and 9 losses and is expected to struggle in the fight at SSE Wembley Arena next weekend.
