Joe Joyce could get the opportunity 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 super heavyweight final with France’s Tony Yoka.
According to the punch statistics from BoxStat, Joyce outlanded Yoka by 99 to 47 over the three, three-minute rounds.
However, two out of the three judges scored the fight in Yoka’s favour by margins of 30-27 and 29-28, while the third had it 29-28 for Joyce.
In 2021, renowned sports lawyer Richard McLaren filed a report claiming 11 fights at the Rio Games, including Joyce’s bout with Yoka, may have been subjected to a ‘system of manipulation’.
In the wake of the news, Joyce called for the result to be overturned.
Nothing ever came of it, but Joyce is on the verge of being handed the next best thing in the way of a rematch in the paid ranks.
French newspaper L’Equipe is reporting that the pair are in talks to meet on the undercard of Usyk and Dubois’ undisputed showdown on July 19 at Wembley Stadium.
The fight makes complete sense given where both men are in their respective careers.
Joyce (16-4), who was on the cusp of a world title shot in 2022 after knocking out Joseph Parker, has lost four of his five.
He rebounded from back-to-back stoppage losses at the hands of Zhilei Zhang to score a last-gasp knockout win over Kash Ali last March.
However, his resurgence was short-lived.
Derek Chisora and Filip Hrgovic handed him consecutive points defeats to leave his career in tatters.
Yoka (14-3) got off to a perfect 11-0 start to his career before suffering a three-fight skid courtesy of Martin Bakole, Carlos Takam and Ryad Merhy from 2022 to 2023.
In 2024, Yoka packed his bags and moved to London to work with Dubois’ trainer, Don Charles.
He has won his last three fights under Charles’ guidance, and took the undefeated record of Russia’s Arslan Yallayev last weekend.
“Yoka had a good win over an unbeaten Russian,” Charles told BoxingScene.
“It was his last contractual fight for the Frenchman last night, so he’s totally with us now.
“I mentioned it [Yoka-Joyce] to Frank [Warren] a while back because they fought each other in Rio, and I thought Joe won the fight in Rio.
“If Joe Joyce was awarded gold no one would have said anything.
“As a Brit I was cheering Joyce on, but now Tony is my guy…
“[But it’s a] good fight for both of them. I welcome that fight all day long if it materialises.
“It’s a rematch between the Olympic gold and silver medalist.”
But, added Charles: “Nothing has been agreed or signed.”
