Joe Joyce accuses bitter rival Anthony Joshua of being jealous of him

Joe Joyce believes British heavyweight rival Anthony Joshua looks at him with envy now he has reached the “top of the mountain”. The Juggernaut locks horns with Zhilei Zhang at the Copper Box Arena in London on Saturday night and should he be victorious, he finds himself bang in line for his first ever world title shot.

Meanwhile, Joshua’s stock has plummeted following back-to-back defeats to Oleksandr Usyk and an underwhelming shutout of Jermaine Franklin on his return to action at the O2 Arena on April 1.

Joyce and Joshua have sparred thousands of rounds over the years and a potential showdown is seemingly of huge interest but with the Juggernaut now at the top of his game, an AJ victory is no longer considered a formality.

The WBO interim heavyweight champion is adamant Joshua now wants to be in his position, as he looked to stir the pot with a series of jibes.

“Recently, there’s been some bad blood, but maybe we can settle it in the ring some day,” Joyce said of Joshua.

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“He must have got rid of his phone after the loss to Andy Ruiz. It was a huge fall from grace, especially when he was built and he had this unbeatable air and it kind of all crumbled, and people’s perceptions about him have changed as well.

“He’s younger than me, so he still has time, but he’s already been to the top of the mountain. I’m right there, and he wants what I got now because I got a title, and that could be his route back in.”

Eddie Hearn has already revealed that Joshua is excited by the prospect of a clash with Joyce who is among his potential options for his next fight later in the year.

AJ was initially aiming to get back out in action this summer but he has recently announced that his next bout will now take place in December.

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Should Joyce fail to land his shot at Usyk, who has been ordered to face Daniel Dubois – or Tyson Fury – a fight with Joshua could be set to materialise.

The Juggernaut recently labelled Joshua as “ripe for picking” following his points victory over Franklin with Joyce claiming he would put both men to sleep.

“I’d knock both of them out with their performance the other night,” Joyce said of AJ during an interview with Sky Sports.

“I’d definitely force a stoppage on Franklin and Joshua’s ripe for the picking. He seems to have gone back, in my opinion, a bit backwards. Hasn’t progressed. I was always trying to catch up with him, but now I’ve overtaken him.

“I haven’t caught up to him financially yet, so I need to have those big fights. I’m a threat and he would prefer that [Dillian Whyte] fight.”

Joyce also recently accused Joshua of turning down a fight with Saturday’s opponent Big Bang Zhang, suggesting Joshua was ducking the Chinaman.

Zhang has huge amateur pedigree and is a silver medalist and two-time Olympian, who was dropped by Joshua at London 2012 where AJ won gold.

The 39-year-old has tasted defeat just once in his professional career which came against Filip Hrgovic via controversial scorecards last August on the undercard of Joshua’s rematch with Usyk.

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