Frank Warren believes Joe Joyce will beat Zhilei Zhang in their rematch and wants him to fight Daniel Dubois after that in a world championship fight.
The Queensberry promoter saw Joyce suffer a surprise defeat earlier in the year to the Chinese heavyweight, giving up his WBO interim belt in the process.
However Joyce has the chance to win it back on September 23, and whoever emerges victorious will be a good position to face Oleksandr Usyk as a mandatory challenger, assuming he beats Dubois in August, and if he does not commit to a rumoured undisputed clash with Tyson Fury this December in Saudi Arabia.
Speaking to BoxingScene.com, Warren predicted it would be Joyce who is victorious.
He wrote: “Big Joe, of course, has got it all to do to overturn the outcome of April’s original encounter at the Copper Box.
“They say sequels don’t always deliver the goods, but Joe will have to be at his marauding best to retrieve his precious cargo in the shape of the WBO Interim world heavyweight title.
“Should he do so – and I strongly fancy he will – he will plonk himself right back into pole position for when the WBO mandatory is called, probably early next year.”
He then suggested that it could be WBA mandatory challenger who comes through the fight against Usyk.
He continued: “I very much hope it will be Daniel Dubois in the opposite corner as unified champion, with his challenge to Oleksandr Usyk very close to being made public for late August.”