Joe Joyce was on the receiving end of the type of punishment he’s frequently dished out during his pro career so far when he was stopped by Zhilei Zhang last month.
The 2016 Olympic silver medallist suffered a shock loss when he was stopped by the Chinese star, but it appears he will have a chance of obtaining revenge as he’s activated his rematch clause according to his manager.
At the start of the year, Joyce looked like he was the most likely candidate to dethrone either Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk thanks to an impressive 2022 that saw him stop Joseph Parker.
Zhang, who had recently been mentioned as a potential opponent for Fury, is the fighter who has Joyce’s full attention and it’s likely we could get the sequel next.
“The first fight was what it was. Joe knows how to put it right,” said Shane Watson, the manager of Joyce, when speaking to talkSPORT.
“We spoke about an interim fight, but Joe made it clear he wanted the rematch as soon as possible and this shows how Joe will take any top heavyweight on at any time.”