Joe Joyce Thinks Oleksandr Usyk Will Vacate Titles Instead Of Fighting Him: ‘He Doesn’t Want That Smoke’

Joe Joyce isn’t sure Oleksandr Usyk will remain the heavyweight champ and fight him.

Usyk is coming off back-to-back wins over Anthony Joshua to become the new WBA, IBF, IBO and WBO heavyweight champ and then defended them. His plan is to take the rest of the year and return sometime in 2023 as he hopes to face Tyson Fury for the WBC belt.

If that doesn’t come to fruition, he is ordered to defend his WBO belt but Joyce doesn’t think Usyk will want to fight him and instead will vacate the belt.

“Ideally, I would like to fight Usyk,” Joyce told Metro.co.uk. “But it seems he is now looking elsewhere, considering moving back to cruiserweight or wanting to fight Fury but it doesn’t look like that is on the table at the moment. Usyk could vacate and then I would be elevated.

“I think he’s probably going to vacate. He doesn’t want that smoke. He has also been at it a long time. Hundreds of amateur bouts over the years and he will have earned very decent money for his last two bouts [against Anthony Joshua],” Joyce continued. “I don’t know, does he really want to take on The Juggernaut? If the Fury fight doesn’t happen for him, I’m not sure he wants to stay here and take loads of licks and have a hard fight when he doesn’t have to. But I don’t know what happens in boxing anymore. Fury changes his mind all the time, Usyk has a lot of options. But we will get there eventually. All I can do is keep calling people out and be patient.”

Joe Joyce is coming off a KO win over Joseph Parker to become the new WBO interim heavyweight champ. He’s currently 15-0 as a pro and also holds stoppage wins over Daniel Dubois, Carlos Takam, and Christian Hammer.

Do you think Oleksandr Usyk will vacate his belts as Joe Joyce thinks?