Tyson Fury has branded Joe Joyce as the world's second best heavyweight boxer behind himself and wants to fight him in the future.
It's not often the Gypsy King dishes out praise to any of his rivals but the 'Juggernaut' clearly must have impressed him when knocking out his training partner Joseph Parker at Manchester’s AO Arena on Saturday night.
All the boxing headlines since then have focused on Fury calling off his potential blockbuster clash with Anthony Joshua on December 3 after his British rival failed meet his self-imposed deadline to sign the contract on Monday, while the WBC champion has been widely criticised by pundits and fans for subsequently turning his attention towards the unheralded Manuel Charr for a world title fight instead.
Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) has now taken to social media to voice his opinion on the unbeaten Joyce (15-0, 14KOs), and is prepared to put his status on the line against him at some point.
He said: "I've had a lovely day watching all the big fights and studying all the heavyweights and I've got to say that big Joe Joyce is the second best heavyweight boxer in the world behind myself.
"On his day, given his moment, who knows if he could beat me - I think we're going to have to find out one of these days.
"I've looked at the mandatory challengers for the world titles such as Zhielei Zhang, Filip Hrgovic and everyone else - and I've changed my mind. Joe Joyce is the number two heavyweight in the world. One day we'll find out who the best is but at the moment I rule the roost and he isn't. But he's f***ing coming for everybody, don't you worry about that. Come on big Joe!"
Tyson Fury gives his verdict on the second best heavyweight in the world today…
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) September 28, 2022
[🎥 @Tyson_Fury] pic.twitter.com/5hEWyG0Mnx
Joyce has recently expressed his dissatisfaction with Fury's plans to fight Charr, telling SecondsOut: "It’ll be a good fight while it lasts. But I think people don’t want to see that.
“They want to see Fury in better fights like Usyk, or Joshua, or me. There’s plenty of other fights out there.”
Joyce has also been linked with a future fight with Joshua and has no doubt what the outcome would be.
He told told IFL TV: "He gets knocked out, he gets bashed up. His last performances haven’t really impressed me.”
