The American Donnie Palmer came to the UK to face the unbeaten Joe Joyce, with plenty of verbals but when you have a cornerman in better shape than you are, the signs didn’t look good.
In winning inside a minute and moving to 3-0 Joyce moves on, and certainly needs a sterner test, but he looks a real threat in the domestic heavyweight division.
Over the next few months, the domestic and indeed the world scene will be much clearer. Anthony Joshua heads most rankings and if as expected he dispatches Joseph Parker in a few weeks he hopefully will go onto face Deontay Wilder and give us one unified heavyweight champion.
Dillian Whyte gets his chance to gate-crash the world scene and put himself on course for a rematch with Joshua when he meets Lucas Browne this coming Saturday.
David Haye if his body holds up, could be another to force his way into world title reckoning if he beats Tony Bellew in their rematch in May. Haye has the name and is still marketable, and opponents now view him as beatable, that’s not a bad way to get the big fights.
Tyson Fury will hopefully soon return, and like Haye could complicate matters for all those like me, who want one true king.
David Price gets his latest and surely last chance at redemption when he faces Alexander Povetkin on the Joshua/Parker undercard. Price is the opponent, and Povetkin is another opponent Joshua or Wilder might look to instead of each other.
I do have doubts Joshua and Wilder will meet, boxing politics I fear will scupper it. But all parties need to realise both have shown vulnerabilities, and one punch could ruin all the plans, one punch could cost everybody an awful lot of money, so I think they would be very wise to make the match sooner rather than later.
Joe Joyce at 32 hasn’t got time on his side and if the match with Dereck Chisora actually happens in May, it gives him an excellent opportunity to maybe go for the British title next if he gets past the experienced Chisora.
Daniel Dubois maybe the best prospect of the lot, and at 20 has got plenty of time to develop, might also be in the British title picture towards the end of the year, incidentally the British title is on the line when Sam Sexton and Hughie Fury clash in May.
BOXING MONTHLY BRITISH HEAVYWEIGHT RANKINGS:
1: Anthony Joshua (Watford), 20-0, IBF/WBA-Super champion
2: Tony Bellew (Liverpool), 29-2-1
3: Dillian Whyte (Brixton), 22-1
4: David Haye (Bermondsey), 28-3
5: Hughie Fury (Manchester), 20-1
6: Dereck Chisora (Finchley), 27-8
7: Daniel Dubois (Greenwich), 7-0, Southern Area champion
8: Joe Joyce (Putney), 3-0
9: David Price (Liverpool), 22-4
10: Sam Sexton (Norwich), 24-3, British champion
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