Promoter Frank Warren has revealed the real reason Tyson Fury vs Zhilei Zhang collapsed as stablemate Joe Joyce.
Warren revealed that Joyce did not consider potentially forfeiting his rematch to enable Zhang to challenge WBC king Fury.
Therefore, guesses that Fury was the one who pulled the plug are wide of the mark.
“When we first made the fight, Joe was champion Zhilei was at number two,” pointed out Warren. “So Joe went straight to the guy who was his immediate challenger without messing about.
“We did put a rematch clause in there. After the fight, we weren’t sure if Joe would be ready. He obviously sustained quite a bad eye injury, which is the reason why the doctor stopped the fight.
Tyson Fury vs Zhilei Zhang
“So we were talking about Zhang fighting Tyson. But Joe said he didn’t want anyone in the middle and wanted the rematch.
“That tells you all you need to know about Joe Joyce. Straight in there, nobody else is getting in-between, ‘I’m in. I want to win my [interim] title back.’
“That was his prerogative. He insisted on it. We delivered it for him.”
On having to regain his position, Warren added regarding Joyce: “It is now up to Joe. He is a sensible guy and one of the best people I have worked with in boxing.
“He’s a nice person with a great team. He knows what he’s got to do. I think he has got the capability to win his title back.
“If he does that, he becomes mandatory for the WBO version of the title. Whoever is holding that after the fight between Usyk and Daniel Dubois, which takes place in August.”
Zhang vs Joyce II
Joyce discussed his approach to taking on the Chinese puncher who inflicted his first defeat: “I’ve had time to rebuild, relax, let my hair down a little. To reflect on what went down.
“I’ve’ looked at what I must do to get back on the horse and ride into the sunset!”
Joyce now holds a record of 15-1 with 14 KOs. He puts that up against Zhang, who improved to 25-1-1 with a twentieth KO after being Joyce.
It’s a tough ask for any heavyweight to rectify a loss. The smart money is usually on a repeat when someone gets KO’d in a top-division bout.
However, the stakes were too high for Joyce not to invoke the rematch.
Tickets to see the heavyweight clash between Zhilei Zhang and Joe Joyce at the OVO Arena, Wembley, on Saturday, 23 September, are on general sale now from AXS.com.
