Dillian Whyte vowed to reignite his career with victory over Joe Joyce as the all-British heavyweight showdown was confirmed.
The pair will meet in the ring on April 5 at Manchester's Co-op Live Arena, in what is Queensberry’s first show on DAZN since signing a multi-year deal with the streaming platform.
On a card full of heavyweight action, Lawrence Okolie will fight Richard Riakporhe, David Adeleye goes up against Jeamie TKV and Delicious Orie will make his professional debut.
The bill is headlined by Whyte and Joyce, who both know defeat could spell the end of their careers.
At a press conference on Monday to announce the card, it was largely friendly between the two, though Whyte was quick to dismiss Joyce’s claim that he will produce a knockout finish.
“Joe Joyce says he’s going to knock me out - we’ll see,” the 36-year-old said.
“Joe Joyce is very good at putting people to sleep, but not by knocking them out... because he’s so f****** boring. He’s the only man I know who can put coffee to sleep. Boring as f***.
“Great fighter, but he’s a boring guy. So boring.”
Joyce, who will turn 40 in September, has lost three of his last four fights, with the most recent of those coming last summer when he was beaten on points by Derek Chisora.
Whyte has fought only twice since 2022, in low-key wins over Christian Hammer and Ebenezer Tetteh.
He had been set to fight Anthony Joshua in August 2023, but Whyte failed a drugs test and was replaced by Robert Helenius. An investigation deemed that the "adverse finding" was caused by a contaminated supplement.
Whyte, who challenged for Tyson Fury’s world title in 2022 but suffered the third defeat of his career, is now keen to make up for lost time.
“I want to fight April 5 and then another two times,” he said.
“I need to be busy, because inactivity has killed my career over the last couple of years. Fight and then a potential fight and then it’s very hard. I’ve been walking the wilderness in my mind.
“I’ve been training to be mentally sane instead of actually training for a purpose. Training to get into shape is completely different to when you have a goal.”
