JOE’S PLANNING A BIRTHDAY BASH
Joyce turned 37 last week and vows to dispose of Parker and be world champion by the time he celebrates his 38th
JOE JOYCE turned 37 on Monday and aims to be world heavyweight champion before he blows out the candles on his next birthday cake.
Joyce is the WBO’S No.1 contender for Oleksandr Usyk’s title and will become their interim champion if he beats Joseph Parker tonight at Manchester’s AO Arena.
He wants Usyk, who beat him as an amateur, and will become the WBO’S full champion if the two-time conqueror of Anthony Joshua does not fight him when his mandatory is called.
The unbeaten 2016 Olympic silver medallist, who is ranked No.2 by the WBC and No.5 by the IBF, claims it is a matter of when, not if, he fulfils his world-title dream.
“Yeah, definitely, I’d like to be world champion by my next birthday,” he said. “It could even happen after this fight, when hopefully I will be the WBO interim champion. Then we’ll see what happens with Usyk.
“You never know what’s going to happen with him. It’s a fight I want. I’d like to fight Usyk again. I enjoyed the first one as an amateur, even though I lost. Over the 12-round stretch, I’d be looking to turn that around.”
Joyce’s route to the top has been unconventional and unlike Tyson Fury, who has boxing in his blood, he only started fighting at 22 after trying virtually every other sport.
He was a promising long jumper and triple jumper before an injury ended those dreams and was a decent rugby player and diver, too.
But he knew he had finally found his sport when he first laced up a pair of boxing gloves. “I did martial arts, swimming and rugby from the age of six until 18,” he said.
“Then I had a little gap where I lost a lot of fitness. Then I ran for a bus and I realised, ‘Where’s my fitness gone?!’.
“I was interested in swimming and diving, but I didn’t like doing lengths. So I did springboard diving and I taught that. I could have pursued that for the Olympics as well. Maybe I could have been the next Tom Daley!
“When I started boxing, I realised straight away this is where I belong. It was a good fit.”
Parker, 30, represents a step up in quality for Joyce and the former WBO champ’s only losses in his 32 pro fights have been against Joshua and Dillian Whyte.
Joyce, who is 14-0, likes to rely on his granite chin to walk opponents down, but the ‘Juggernaut’ knows he cannot be too gung ho against the heavy-handed Kiwi, who is ranked No.2 by the WBO.
“I’ve heard he wants to knock me out so I think he’s going to come at me,” added the Putney fighter.
“He’s going to come with some aggression, so I’m going to have to be on my guard, don’t get hit with silly shots.
“We’re quite close and he’s at the top level, he’s an ex-world champion for a reason, so I think it’s going to be my hardest fight to date.
“It’s going to be an exciting fight and another one where I jump up a bit in people’s estimation.” ■■Joyce v Parker is live on BT Sport Box Office tonight from 6pm.