World Championship: Following this month’s shocking loss, Joe Joyce says he would welcome a rematch with Zhilei Zhang and maintains that he still has time to fulfil his dreams of winning the world championship.
The Juggernaut had taken a risk by agreeing to meet with the dangerous Zhang, and his expectations of a difficult night were swiftly justified when he was subjected to a barrage of abuse from the Olympic silver medalist.
Howard Foster eventually stopped the fight when Howard Foster’s straight left hand repeatedly pierced Joyce’s defences, causing a bulging eye.
After first accepting defeat with grace, Joyce is now looking forward to the opportunity to make up for his first defeat in his professional career.
“We had a meeting with the Warrens, so there will be some news coming out soon (about his next steps),” he said to Sky Sports at the Sports Industry Awards.
“It would be fantastic to get back at him for that. A couple more rounds and no black eye, I believe, would have kept me in the fight. I also believed I would start to wear him down in the later rounds.
“Respect to him, though; he’s a tremendous opponent and clearly performed the job; the battle was difficult.
“It was very upsetting, but I’d like to exact revenge. Hopefully, we’ll do it once more.”
In his own pursuit of a chance to challenge for the world championship, Zhang has been associated with a number of potential opponents, and Joyce also claims that he has possibilities for his upcoming match.
But he admits the possibility that in order to advance, he might have to defeat Zhilei Zhang.
“There are many possibilities; it’s not the only choice,” he continued.
“I was in a wonderful position and didn’t really need to accept that fight, but I’d like to go back in control, avenge it, and move on to bigger and better bouts.
“I don’t regret taking it; it’s just a necessary part of the narrative; I lost my 0 but I’ll still go on and have some fantastic evenings. There are many choices, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Before his defeat, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk were rumoured to be interested in Joyce, and he still thinks his chance will come.
He remarked, “I still have time, there are still possibilities, and I think I’ll get there someday.”
For boxing live update, latest boxing news, boxing championship, boxing tournament, boxing all updates, boxing fight, boxing live score, boxing all updates live and other boxing news follow Livematchupdates.com.
