Joyce-Zhang is officially announced

Joe Joyce (15-0, 14 KOs) will defend his interim WBO heavyweight title against the Chinese Zhilei Zhang (24-1-1, 19 KOs) at the Copper Box Arena on Saturday, April 15, broadcast on British BT Sport. It will be the first defense of the belt for the Juggernaut, who secured his first spot in line for a full WBO title with a win over Joseph Parker last September in Manchester.

"It's going to be another amazing night at Wembley," said promoter Frank Warren. “We want Big Joe to be active while the heavyweight title situation is decided, but we don't want easy defenses of his interim WBO title. Zhilei Zhang is a very formidable opponent who can rightly say that he was not lucky when the judges did not give him preference in last year's fight with Filip Hrgovic.

“The fact that Zhang is left-handed is of great importance to Joe: Usyk is left-handed, and Tyson can stand in any position. This is exactly what Joe needs and hopefully in the future we will see his big clash with Tyson,” added Warren.