Joe Joyce might get the chance to avenge his Olympic heartbreak on the Oleksandr Usyk vs Daniel Dubois undercard.
‘The Juggernaut’ was cruelly denied a gold medal at Rio 2016 by some scandalous judging in his tremendous heavyweight remaining with France’s Tony Yoka.
In keeping with the punch statistics from BoxStat, Joyce outlanded Yoka by 99 to 47 over the three, three-minute rounds.
Nevertheless, two out of the three judges scored the struggle in Yoka’s favour by margins of 30-27 and 29-28, whereas the third had it 29-28 for Joyce.
In 2021, famend sports activities lawyer Richard McLaren filed a report claiming 11 fights on the Rio Video games, together with Joyce’s bout with Yoka, could have been subjected to a ‘system of manipulation’.
Within the wake of the information, Joyce referred to as for the outcome to be overturned.
Nothing ever got here of it, however Joyce is on the verge of being handed the subsequent neatest thing in the best way of a rematch within the paid ranks.
French newspaper L’Equipe is reporting that the pair are in talks to fulfill on the undercard of Usyk and Dubois’ undisputed showdown on July 19 at Wembley Stadium.
The struggle makes full sense given the place each males are of their respective careers.
Joyce (16-4), who was on the cusp of a world title shot in 2022 after knocking out Joseph Parker, has misplaced 4 of his 5.
He rebounded from back-to-back stoppage losses by the hands of Zhilei Zhang to attain a last-gasp knockout win over Kash Ali final March.
Nevertheless, his resurgence was short-lived.
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Derek Chisora and Filip Hrgovic handed him consecutive factors defeats to go away his profession in tatters.
Yoka (14-3) bought off to an ideal 11-0 begin to his profession earlier than struggling a three-fight skid courtesy of Martin Bakole, Carlos Takam and Ryad Merhy from 2022 to 2023.
In 2024, Yoka packed his baggage and moved to London to work with Dubois’ coach, Don Charles.
He has received his final three fights below Charles’ steerage, and took the undefeated file of Russia’s Arslan Yallayev final weekend.
“Yoka had a superb win over an unbeaten Russian,” Charles instructed BoxingScene.
“It was his final contractual struggle for the Frenchman final night time, so he’s completely with us now.
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“I discussed it [Yoka-Joyce] to Frank [Warren] some time again as a result of they fought one another in Rio, and I assumed Joe received the struggle in Rio.
“If Joe Joyce was awarded gold nobody would have mentioned something.
“As a Brit I used to be cheering Joyce on, however now Tony is my man…
“[But it’s a] good struggle for each of them. I welcome that struggle all day lengthy if it materialises.
“It’s a rematch between the Olympic gold and silver medalist.”
However, added Charles: “Nothing has been agreed or signed.”