Last Friday night at York Hall, Olympic silver medal winner Joe Joyce (5-0, 5 KOs) crushed Ivica Bacurin in the first round.
Bacurian was a late replacement for Richard Lartey, who withdraw a few days before the contest with Joyce was scheduled.
Back in May, Joyce destroyed Lenroy Thomas to win the Commonwealth heavyweight title as part of the undercard to the Tony Bellew-David Haye rematch at the O2 Arena in London.
Joyce is now looking for the biggest fight possible.
He was unable to lure Dereck Chisora into the ring. And several other veterans have rejected Joyce's advances.
Joyce is hoping that he can get a fight with world title challenger Bryant Jennings (23-2, 13 KOs).
Jennings was hoping to fight former world champion Joseph Parker, who recently finalized a deal to face Dillian Whyte next month.
The loss of Parker has now left Jennings without a dance partner for a planned return on August 18 in Atlantic City.
And Joyce is willing to fill that void.
“It’s a good fight. It’s a step up as well, it would put me in a good place, should I beat him,” Joyce said to Boxing News.
On a domestic level, he would like to fight Hughie Fury, who was ringside for Joyce's most recent fight.
But it appears that Fury is not that interested in that showdown and wants a much bigger opportunity.
“I heard maybe Peter [Fury, Hughie’s uncle and trainer] saying they weren’t going to take the fight. He’s got the belt and he’s going to vacate and move on to bigger and better things, which is understandable. He’s had a world title fight with Joseph Parker, he’s gone and won the British. He’s going to go a different route,” Joyce said.
“I’d like to fight for the British title at some point. It’s a lovely belt. But I’m not going to hang around and wait to get the opportunity to fight for the British title, I’d prefer to move on to bigger and better things."
