WBO interim-heavyweight champion Joe Joyce is not surprised that his name is never in the running to face Anthony Joshua.
The two amateur stablemates have shared in the ring in the unpaid ranks.
Joyce is viewed as a dangerous force at the weight, with knockout wins over Joseph Parker, Daniel Dubois and Carlos Takam.
The unbeaten puncher is looking to stay busy, as Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are close to reaching a deal to fight each other for all of the major titles in the weight class.
Under the WBO, Joyce would be the mandatory challenger to the Fury-Usyk winner.
Joshua, a former two-time world champion, is looking to bounce back after suffering consecutive defeats to Usyk.
Several names are being mentioned for Joshua's next few fights - but Joyce is not one of them.
“It’s not a surprise because when does Joshua mention my name? Apart from when I was in the Olympics, soon as I turned pro, he didn’t mention my name or Eddie Hearn," Joyce told ID Boxing.
“If you’re not with us you’re against us and I don’t have millions of followers like Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury yet. Maybe it’s because I don’t have enough followers. If people want to see it lets, make it happen. I guess it just needs to be built up and when he has no choice but to fight me, he will fight me. But it’s a big fight, Olympic gold versus Olympic silver. Maybe the medals could be swapped, I think I’m more deserving.
“He’s not gun shy but he’s apprehensive about being knocked out because he’s been knocked out a few times. He prefers to be on the back foot and out of danger. It will tell when we see the rematch with him and Dillian Whyte.
“Because in the Dillian Whyte fight, he was getting hit with big shots, he was wobbling on his feet but was still coming forward. Something obviously changed after the Ruiz loss but he’s still a good fighter and there’s plenty of interesting fights for him and I’d like to fight him as well.”
