THE FUTURE
I’m proud to promote Joe Joyce’s journey – and I’m not finished yet
INOT only want to get back, I want to be better than I was before. Getting back to where I was clearly won’t be good enough, so I want to be better than I ever have been, and working with my new trainer Ismael Salas, I believe he’s going to give me that edge. I’m very lucky to have him, for him to bring his fighter Jorge Linares with him and base themselves in the Hayemaker Gym.
When the injury happened against Tony Bellew in the sixth round, it wasn’t a happy or sad thing. I had to deal with it. When a soldier is at war and gets shot in the leg, what does he do? Does he think he’s so sad that he’s been shot in the leg, or does he think he doesn’t want to get shot dead and has to keep going? It was the same thing for me. If I’d have quit, it would have been over.
I thought until the moment that the towel came in that I was going to win the fight, and at no stage did I think I was going to lose. I always believed I was in there with a puncher’s chance, even though I could only throw my left because my right leg was gone. But I knew I was alive, put it that way, it was
I THOUGHT UNTIL THE MOMENT THE TOWEL CAME IN I WAS GOING TO WIN THE FIGHT
one of those moments.
As painful as it was, it is something I’ll remember and, in years to come, it’s something the fans will remember too. It was when I fought with one leg. It’s not often that you get an opportunity to show blood and guts like that. I’ve never really prided myself on that, but it’s something I always knew I had inside. There were fans prior to the fight who really hoped that I lost, who are now saying ‘I’m a big fan now but I hated your guts before’.
I would have liked to have won the fight by any means necessary, but it adds to my story, even if it was only a small chapter.
The story is just beginning for Joe Joyce. Myself and Richard Schaefer sat down with Joe and talked about our history in the sport, our experience and where we believe he belongs, and the route we’ll use to navigate him to the top. He obviously liked what he heard. It wasn’t a cheap signing either, but you get what you pay for in this game. We believe he will win titles, and not only that, he will go on to unify the division. I really truly believe that. I’m so glad that he understood our vision, that we will put him on terrestrial television [Dave] to build his brand and become one of the biggest household names in Britain, and the world.
We’re talking about an eight or 10-rounder in his first fight. He’s got it in the tank. I’ve seen it against world class professionals, undefeated professionals who are ranked very, very highly in the world. Behind closed doors he’s given a very good account of himself and I’m certain when the lights come on he will flourish. He’s a big name fighter, and he showed that at the Olympics when he was beaten to the gold by a controversial decision.
If you look at the London Olympics, Anthony Joshua got the gold and you can see how his career has gone within four or five years – he’s considered the premier heavyweight on the planet. I believe we can do that in half the time with Joe Joyce.
Will I ever share a bill with him? That’s another discussion that we’re talking to UKTV about at the moment. They saw the recordbreaking numbers that I produced before on their channel when I made my comeback. Keep your ears open because we should know more about my future plans in the next month to six weeks.