Tyson Fury has been snubbed in his claim of being the best heavyweight boxer by his ex-sparring partner, who has also had a message for Anthony Joshua. Unbeaten heavyweight Joe Joyce will defend his WBO interim heavyweight title next month against Zhang Zhilei and his stock is quickly rising.
Joyce showed his power by knocking Joseph Parker unconscious on his last outing with a vicious left hook to secure his WBO mandatory status to unified champion Oleksandr Usyk. Bridgerweight fighter Alen Babic has sparred against both Fury and Joyce and has his own opinion on who is the better fighter.
He talkSPORT: “I sparred Joe Joyce, we did close to 25 rounds in three days and I rate him the highest and I’ve sparred them all. I rate Joyce the highest because he’s a tough mother***** and he’s relentless, he has a good punch and I didn’t know that.
“It doesn’t look like he has that powerful a punch, but his hands are very heavy, a heavy-handed guy. And he has an engine like myself, he doesn’t stop and he is double the size of me with the same engine, it’s crazy.”
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With unified champion Usyk ordered to fight Daniel Dubois next Joyce could have to bide his time and a fight with Joshua might be next on the cards. The British heavyweights are former Team GB team-mates and AJ has previously spoken about being interested in the fight.
However, Babic made a point that Joshua, after beating Jermaine Franklin by unanimous decision last weekend, would be ‘very brave’ to take on Joyce next. He added: “I put (Joe) Joyce on top of the list, the top two heavyweights. He is the toughest fight for anybody and he’s an Olympian so you can add that on top of the cake.
“I think Joshua is very brave to take that fight. I think Joe Joyce is the dark horse of the heavyweight division and he is the toughest opponent for everybody, including Tyson Fury and [Oleksandr] Usyk, but I think Joe Joyce is the guy who should be feared.
“I’ve felt his power and we had crazy rounds, I think I did good, I maybe even snatched a few rounds. But sparring is my game, I am even better in sparring than in fights and Joe Joyce proved himself to the ‘Savage’ so I think Joshua is very brave to go after Joe Joyce.”
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