Tyson Fury's promoter has claimed Joe Joyce was not ready to face the world champion - despite calling for the fight.
Heavyweight champion Fury, 34, insisted he would retire from boxing after knocking out Dillian Whyte in April but backtracked on his decision by trying to negotiate a fight with longtime rival Anthony Joshua. But talks broke down and Fury has now opted to face Chisora in a trilogy fight on December 3 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The decision came with heavy criticism from fans as Chisora has already been beaten decisively by Fury twice, with ‘The Gypsy King’ winning a one-sided decision in 2011 before stopping Chisora in their rematch three years later. Queensberry Promotions boss Frank Warren defended the decision to make the trilogy fight by stating that Chisora was the highest-ranked heavyweight currently available to fight.
"Box Rec is the most respected, independent ratings. No.1 is Usyk but he pulled himself out, said he won't be ready until spring. Anthony Joshua, who wasted a month and he's out. Deontay Wilder is No.3 and he just fought, so he's not available. Andy Ruiz is fighting Wilder in a final eliminator for the title," Warren told iD Boxing.
"Then you've got Dillian Whyte, who [Fury] just beat. Joe Joyce, who's not available because he's just fought recently and is on holiday. Luis Ortiz, who we couldn't do anything with, then you've got Joseph Parker who just got beat by Joe Joyce. The next one at No.9 is Derek Chisora. They're not my rankings, they are the ones we all go by."
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Joyce, 37, called for a fight with Fury following his stoppage win over Joseph Parker last month. ‘The Juggernaut’ admitted that December 3 would be a “tight” turnaround, but said he would be available to fight just two weeks later. "Let’s go, sign the contract, big boy,” Joyce wrote to Fury. “No.1 vs No.2 for the lineal [title].” Fury played down Joyce’s call out by replying: "It’s not tour time big Joe I have to win undisputed first vs the middleweight! You also have to build yourself up to the big time!"
Warren said it was important to get Fury a fight before the end of the year as they plan for him to face Usyk for the undisputed titles in 2023 "We were in a position where we had to find him a ranked opponent and the highest ranked opponent," he said. "We eventually got that over the line and it's important that Tyson has a fight before the end of the year because if he;'s fighting Usyk and he didn't have anything in between then he would have been out of the ring for a year, so he's got Derek Chisora."
