Victory over Derek Chisora could lead to a rematch between Joe Joyce and Daniel Dubois.
Joyce, 38, on Saturday evening fights Chisora at London’s O2 Arena in an attempt to revive his career.
Successive stoppages by Zhilei Zhang have transformed his reputation from the heavyweight considered to have the world’s most impressive punch resistance to one considered in decline.
Were it not for the fact that greater concerns increasingly surround the 40-year-old Chisora’s health, the direction of Joyce’s career may be the subject of increased focus. However Warren, who also promotes Dubois – the victory over Dubois perhaps represents Joyce’s finest – is ready to offer him a lucrative rematch with Dubois if he impresses and wins.
Joyce unexpectedly stopped Dubois in 2020 when a fractured orbital socket forced the then-undefeated Dubois to take a knee. Dubois has since rebuilt his reputation – he was recently elevated to the status of IBF champion and fights Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium on September 21 – but, according to Warren, he wants to secure revenge.
It is likely that should he defeat Joshua – and he is the underdog – Dubois will pursue an undisputed title fight with the winner of December’s rematch between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, but defeat by Joshua and victory for Joyce over Chisora would make a rematch a logical contest, and even in the event of victory over Joshua, a rematch with Joyce will be in their promoter’s mind.
In the aftermath of Dubois being stopped by Usyk, his trainer Don Charles spoke of Joyce as a potential future opponent, but having since seen Joyce lose to Zhang and labour to victory over Kash Ali, Warren told BoxingScene: “I know that Joe would like the fight again – Joe would fancy it again – and Daniel would like to reverse the loss. It’s a no-brainer.
“[Dubois has] told me in the past he wanted to have the fight. They both want it. They’d both like to do it, and more importantly they’d get well paid for it.”
Warren also guided Chisora for the majority of his career – and certainly his peak – and he confirmed that Chisora’s future troubles him.
“Yeah,” he responded when asked if he was concerned about the heavyweight’s health. “I say ‘concerned’ – I advised him to retire a little while ago. But he’s fighting on – they want the fight, the pair of them.
“We gave [Joyce] a list of opponents – this is the fight they said they wanted. This fight for him, where does he go with it? If he loses it, I don’t see where he goes. If he weren’t fighting on our show, he’d be fighting on someone else’s. He’s fighting a guy a similar age, who’s also entering a jeopardy fight.
“He’s a guy that’s going to carry on fighting. I just hope he don’t do a Danny Williams.”
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