Joe Joyce to fight British veteran Derek Chisora in London

[Ledhed1]

ESPN

British heavyweights Joe Joyce and Derek Chisora will face off at London's O2 Arena on July 27, Queensberry promotions announced on Wednesday.

The pair have been on a collision course for some time, with Joyce first calling for a fight with Chisora in 2019.

Joyce (16-2, 15 KOs) returned to the ring in March after back-to-back knockout defeats to Zhilei Zhang which saw him fall down the heavyweight rankings.

The 2016 Olympic silver medallist beat Kash Ali in a 10th-round knockout on his return but looked far from his best.

Prior to the Zhang defeats, Joyce had been in the conversation for world title fights after handing Joseph Parker the first knockout defeat of his career, as well as recording wins over Daniel Dubois and Carlos Takam.

Chisora, 40, last fought in August, beating Gerald Washington in London off the back of a third defeat to Tyson Fury.

"This is a proper old school heavyweight fight that seems to have been a long time in the making," promoter Frank Warren said.

"I remember it being talked about strongly even before we teamed up with Joe and it has always struck me as a natural and obvious fight to make."

Warren has hinted bigger fights will be on the cards for winner, while defeat for either fighter could spell the end.

"Two top London heavies fighting it out for a place back at the top table promises to deliver a cracking scrap. The winner is right back in business, with no real place to go for the loser."

[Bear Hugger]

Quote

Warren has hinted bigger fights will be on the cards for winner, while defeat for either fighter could spell the end.

I thought Chisora was supposed to be finished after the last Fury fight, then after Gerald Washington? Now after Joyce...

Edited May 24 by Bear Hugger

[Ledhed1]

Heavyweights are never finished, particularly British heavyweights. No matter how many times AJ and now Fury lose, the clamoring for that fight will never subside. By the time it happens, it may be only relevant to Brits but it'll still sell out a football stadium. Brit vs Brit in Britain is a guaranteed hot ticket. Heavyweights? Nothing short of PPV.

[Cableaddict]

A meaningless fight,  but if it makes the UK fans happy then I'm all for it.

Those folks help keep the sport alive.   

[Carden]

8 hours ago, Cableaddict said:

A meaningless fight,  but if it makes the UK fans happy then I'm all for it.

Those folks help keep the sport alive.   

That's kind of how I feel about UK journeymen fights. 🤣

[WelshDevilRob]

Seen a lot of moans about this fight online. But, I don't mind it. Two old British Heavyweights should make a decent scrap. Though if FW asks for PPV, he can do one lol.

Feed both to Moses Itauma after.