Joyce eyes WBO champion Dubois rematch

Joe Joyce believes a rematch with Daniel Dubois remains a viable path back to heavyweight contention, even as his own career has stalled badly in recent years. The 40-year-old British fighter handed Dubois his first professional defeat back in 2020, a fight that left the younger man with serious eye damage and counted out on the scorecards.

Since that night, their trajectories have diverged sharply. Dubois rebuilt himself into a two-time heavyweight world champion, picking up notable wins over Anthony Joshua and Fabio Wardley. He now holds the WBO heavyweight world title.

Joyce, meanwhile, has lost four of his last five bouts.

His slide started with back-to-back defeats against Zhilei Zhang, who exposed defensive problems the Briton never quite solved. Losses to Filip Hrgovic and Derek Chisora followed. Before the Zhang fights, Joyce had been the WBO Interim champion after beating both Dubois and Joseph Parker — a stretch that now feels like a different career entirely.

“It’s always an attractive option,” Joyce said of a potential Dubois rematch. “Before I took Zhang, which was obviously a bad decision, I was WBO Interim off the back of beating Dubois and Parker. So it’s just like a bit of a mistake that I’m going to rectify now.”

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An Upcoming Test in Moscow

Any talk of a title shot is premature. He is scheduled to fight unbeaten Artem Suslenkov on July 11 in Moscow, on the undercard of Murat Gassiev vs Tony Yoka. A loss to an opponent with no major names on his record would effectively end any realistic discussion of the former interim champion competing at the world level again.

“I’ve got to deal with what’s in front of me first before looking too far ahead,” Joyce said. The reality is that an aging heavyweight coming off four losses has almost no margin for error. Beating Suslenkov doesn’t prove much on its own, but losing would prove everything about where Joyce stands now.

His recent record doesn’t inspire much confidence among oddsmakers or fans who’ve watched him slow down considerably since his peak.

Joyce Says He’s Made Changes

The Londoner insists he’s used his time away from the ring productively. He’s been inactive for roughly a year, but claims the layoff won’t matter.

“It’s just boxing,” he said. “I’ve been training, I’ve been learning this year, I’ve been putting in the work so I’m ready to show you what I’ve learned.”

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“The motivation is getting the win and getting back in there and putting in a dominant performance. I’ve made some changes and I’m training hard and getting ready for that fight.”

What those changes are, he didn’t specify. No mention of a new trainer or adjusted tactics.

The Dubois Question

The reigning champion has no obvious reason to pursue a Joyce rematch right now. He holds a world title with commercial options that likely exceed what a fight with a losing, aging fighter would generate. The original 2020 loss still stings on his record, sure, but he’s built enough since then that revenge isn’t the narrative priority it once was.

Still, boxing has a way of recycling matchups that seem dead. If Joyce looks impressive against Suslenkov and picks up another win or two afterward, the arithmetic changes. Promoters love a redemption arc almost as much as they love a rivalry with history behind it.

For now, everything hinges on July 11 in Moscow. Joyce needs a win to keep the conversation alive. Without one, the Dubois talk is just talk.