‘Ripe for the picking’: Joe Joyce says he has overtaken Anthony Joshua in the heavyweight division
‘He’s ripe for the picking’: Joe Joyce claims he CATCHED Anthony Joshua after watching the Briton’s comeback against Jermaine Franklin – and insists he’d RULE the two-time world champion
- Joyce says Joshua has “made no progress” and has actually gone backwards
- Joyce tried to catch up with Joshua, but he now thinks he has passed him
- The 37-year-old boxer is now after ‘big fights’ to match Joshua financially
Joe Joyce claims that Anthony Joshua has “gone backwards” in his career and has now overtaken the two-time heavyweight world champion.
Joyce is confident he could knock Joshua out after watching the 33-year-old’s performance against Jermaine Franklin at the O2 Arena last week.
He gave a scathing assessment of Joshua’s win over Franklin, saying that AJ had no combinations and boxed similarly to his second fight against Andy Ruiz in 2019.
However, the 37-year-old claims Joshua will not be fighting him as he thinks AJ would rather have an easier fight against Dillian Whyte next time out.
The interim WBO title holder told Sky Sports after Joshua defeated Franklin last weekend: “I would knock them both out with their performance last night, I would certainly force a stoppage for Franklin and Joshua who are ripe for the picking.
Joe Joyce says he could knock Anthony Joshua out given their respective form
The 37-year-old has held the WBO intermediate title since beating Joshua Parker in September 2022.
Joyce claims that Joshua boxed like he did in the Andy Ruiz fights against Jermaine Franklin
“He seems to have backed off a little bit in my opinion. Has not progressed.’
Since February, Joshua has been under the guidance of American trainer Derrick James, but he has not yet shown any sign of significant improvement from his previous fights.
James replaced Robert Garcia as AJ’s coach earlier this year, but many, including Joyce, believe Joshua still looks the same as he did before entering the new partnership.
Joyce continued, “He was [throwing] single shots and boxing like he did in the [Andy] Ruiz second fight. He missed the combinations.
“I always tried to catch up with him, but now I’ve caught up with him. I haven’t caught up with him financially yet so I have to have those big fights. I’m a threat, and he’d prefer that [Whyte fight].’
At 37 years old, time is running out for Joyce to land a big fighter before hanging up his gloves for retirement.
With Joshua, Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder and Oleksandr Usyk showing no interest in fighting Joyce any time soon, it looks like a long shot if he overtakes AJ in terms of career earnings.