Frank Warren, one of England's biggest boxing promoters, stated that preliminary talks between the teams of Oleksandr Usyk and Joe Joyce have officially begun, Talk Sport reports.
“We are working on, at the moment, Usyk and Joe Joyce. I think the WBO will order that as an ‘interim’ title fight so we are working hard to make that happen," said the promoter.
Usyk has been a mandatory challenger for the WBO title since moving up to heavyweight. Joyce, in turn, is currently ranked 2nd.
If the bout between Usyk and Joyce is set, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury will have an opportunity to fight for all major belts.
“The eventual winner of the two fights between Tyson and AJ will have to defend against Joyce or Usyk, or vacate the belt,” Warren added.
It is worth noting that Joyce and Usyk shared the ring during their days with WSB - the Ukrainian boxer has a unanimous victory over Joyce on his record.
As we reported earlier, Bob Arum wants Usyk to be represented by the Top Rank.
"He is out of his contract with Matchroom. The only contract he has with Matchroom is they make him a Joshua fight. Otherwise, he is free. So his manager Egis Klimas, the same manager as [Vasily] Lomachenko and a lot of the other fighters that fight for me, I would love to have Usyk as part of my group," reads the message.
