LAS VEGAS – Joe Joyce is certain Daniel Dubois has taken on too much too soon.
The 2016 Olympic silver medalist thinks he’ll end their battle between unbeaten heavyweight knockout artists inside the distance April 11 at O2 Arena in London. Most handicappers have made the 6-feet-5, 240-pound Dubois a 4-1 favorite over the 6-feet-6, 255-pound Joyce in a 12-round fight for the British Boxing Board of Control heavyweight title.
“I’ll beat him because of my experience,” Joyce told BoxingScene.com recently. “I can punch a little bit, and he hasn’t fought anyone like me. I’m confident in my ability to take him out.”
The 34-year-old Joyce (10-0, 9 KOs) defeated Philadelphia’s Bryant Jennings (24-4, 14 KOs) by unanimous decision in his last fight, July 13 at O2 Arena.
That victory took place on the Dubois-Nathan Gorman undercard. Dubois beat the previously undefeated Gorman by fifth-round knockout, but Joyce is considered a harder puncher than England’s Gorman (16-1, 11 KOs).
“Beating him puts me in the limelight because Frank Warren has been building Dubois since he turned pro,” Joyce said. “I think beating him will propel me into the big, big fights. I’ll also be the number one heavyweight for BT Sport. So, from there, I’ll be a big step closer to getting in with the top three, four heavyweights in the world. I’ll be a lot more credible name to fight and I’m sure it will generate good revenue to fight me after I beat Dubois.”
London’s Joyce hopes a career-changing victory over the highly regarded Dubois (14-0, 13 KOs) leads to challenging Tyson Fury for the WBC heavyweight title if Fury defeats Deontay Wilder again in their rematch. England’s Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) and Alabama’s Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) are tentatively scheduled to square off again July 18 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
“That would be massive,” Joyce said. “That would be an ideal scenario, to fight for the WBC title. That’s what I’ve been boxing for. I wanna get to the world title as soon as possible. I’m turning 35 this year, so I’m ready for the big fights.”
Joyce hasn’t fought since he beat Jennings nearly eight months ago. The 22-year-old Dubois has produced two quick knockout wins against Ebenezer Tetteh (19-1, 16 KOs) and Kyotaro Fujimoto (21-2, 13 KOs) since he knocked out Gorman.
“He thinks he can knock me out,” Joyce said. “We’ll see what happens on April 11th.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.