Joe Joyce (15-0, 14 KOs) is the mandatory contender for the WBO heavyweight belt, but he may have to wait for his title shot. At Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs), unified IBF, WBA and WBO champion, has three mandatory defenses with Joyce.
As a consolation, Joyce received the WBO belt in the interim version by defeating Joseph Parker. He will put this title on the line in nine days in a duel against a Chinese southpaw Zhang Zhilei (24-1-1, 19 KOs).
Applicants for the Ukrainian are Daniel Dubois (19-1, 18 KOs) according to the WBA, Filip Hrgovic (15-0, 12 KOs) according to IBF and Joyce according to WBO. Usyk will make mandatory defenses in that order, with the exception of a possible unification of all four titles with the WBC champion. Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs). Joyce will have to wait for the championship fights after Dubois and Hrgovic before he gets the honor of fighting for the belt.
But Eddie Hearn, promoter of Anthony Joshua (25-3, 22 KOs), sees things a little differently. Of course, he dreams of a championship fight for his ward, but besides this, he would very much like to see Usyk in the confrontation with Joyce.
“I like Dubois, but who did he beat to become the mandatory contender for the title? Trevor Bryan, Kevin Lerena and Bogdan Dinu? That's all well and good, but Joe Joyce should get the chance before him, he deserves it more. The promoters of Usyk and Dubois will probably come to an agreement without a tender, while Hrgovic will wait for the best of the two. But I think Joyce should have priority,” Hearn said.
Dubois suffered his only defeat at the hands of Joyce. Each sanctioning body nominates a challenger, and this time, in chronological order, the champion will have to defend the World Boxing Association belt.
