{"id":154995,"date":"2025-09-23T08:55:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T08:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/154995\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T08:55:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T08:55:09","slug":"joe-joyce-comeback-fight-with-british-rival-eyed-for-chris-eubank-jr-vs-conor-benn-2-undercard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/154995\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Joyce comeback fight with British rival eyed for Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn 2 undercard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Joyce is set to defy calls to retire once again and his return is being plotted for the Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn 2 bill.<\/p>\n

Joyce hasn’t fought since suffering his fourth defeat in his last five fights, a gruelling war with Filip Hrgovic<\/a> in April.<\/p>\n

\"Joyce<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Joyce is set to fight on despite concerns – and could land himself on a big British bill yet again<\/p>\n

After the fight, ‘The Juggernaut’ faced widespread calls to retire, just as he did after his previous defeat to Derek Chisora<\/a> midway through last year.<\/p>\n

But he insisted he had more to give to the sport, and was previously in talks over a comeback showdown with bitter rival Tony Yoka<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although now BOXXER promoter Ben Shalom is keen to instead thrust his charge Richard Riakporhe into the mix.<\/p>\n

And Shalom is hoping that the bout negotiations will be concluded in time for the bout to land on the card.<\/p>\n

He said: “We\u2019re pushing for Richard Riakporhe to be on this (November 15) card.<\/p>\n

\u201cA fight against Joe Joyce<\/a> is a great British heavyweight fight. I always felt that Richard was a heavyweight. <\/p>\n

“It frustrated me that he couldn\u2019t perform at cruiserweight anymore \u2013 much like Lawrence Okolie. <\/p>\n

“We got him back and he looked brilliant out in Riyadh [victory over Kevin Espindola in May].<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m excited for him to get into the heavyweight mix. He can do some serious damage now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Riakporhe has fought just once in the new division since graduating from cruiserweight after defeat to Chris Billam-Smith.<\/p>\n

\"He<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

He could well run into recent heavyweight debutant Riakporhe – who is being pushed by Shalom into the mixCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

But he is looking to get his name into the mix, with some big fight cards on the horizon in an exciting time for the division.<\/p>\n

It is the second big fight that could land on the bill, with Jack Catterall vs Ekow Essuman also in talks to feature on the night<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Joe Joyce’s future in boxing<\/p>\n

The British heavyweight has now taken a lot of punishment during his career, and is far away from the heights of world level.<\/p>\n

It would take an almighty rebuild to reach the upper echelons of the division again, and there are health concerns around his future.<\/p>\n

Joyce has a granite chin and is capable of absorbing big shots, but there are huge signs that natural wear and tear is growing with every punch.<\/p>\n

The 40-year-old is now getting far beyond his physical prime, but is adamant there is still reward left from competition.<\/p>\n

\"Joyce<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Joyce has little time left in his career – and will want to reverse his poor form at the end of his careerCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

But promoter Frank Warren<\/a> erred on the side of caution when discussing his future.<\/p>\n

He said after his last defeat: “He’s got to go and have a real serious think about the future, which is what he will do.<\/p>\n

“We’ll have a chat and see where we go from there. I’ll be honest, I thought it was a very close fight.<\/p>\n

“He’s been a great servant for British boxing, he’s never in a boring fight. He’s tough as old boots and done us proud at the Olympic Games.”<\/p>\n

His future still appears to be in the squared circle, and it appears an announcement over his next move is imminent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Joyce is set to defy calls to retire once again and his return is being plotted for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,6102,26599,13605,21376,71024,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-154995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-chris-eubank-jr","tag-conor-benn","tag-joe-joyce","tag-richard-riakporhe","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}