Joe Joyce has accused Anthony Joshua of letting his ego go after the pair recently traded fiery words over a potential fight.
The 'Juggernaut' has not fought since last July and was shortlisted by Joshua as a potential opponent for an interim fight if he was unable to rematch Oleksandr Usyk. Joshua then responded to a fan on Twitter who claimed he would "duck" a clash with Joyce which saw the pair trade verbal jabs on Twitter.
Joyce believes that the two-time heavyweight champion now views him as a threat after his recent rankings rise. "Over the years when I was on the Team GB squad, I wasn’t a threat to him," Joyce told The Metro. "As a pro, he was always up here, and I was down there, so it was the case of catching up. Now we are on the same level.
‘Now he is seeing me as that threat. Some of his recent performances haven’t been so good – maybe he is not being as corporate and he is letting his ego go. He has always thought that, because he got that early victory when I was a novice [in 2011].
"I wasn’t quite ready for that, everything seemed to be stacked in his favour with that fight. For him to bring that up, [it shows] he has held onto that, beating me in one round. Now that I am a threat to him, he wants to make everyone aware that he knocked me out in a round."
The pair rowed on social media with Joshua quick to point out his amateur victory over Joyce in 2011 where it took just one round to oust his British foe. Joyce quickly fired back by accusing his former teammate of having a "meltdown" after his defeat to Usyk last year.
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Sparring footage was later leaked of the pair which showed Joshua dominating his rival in the ring in a 40-second video clip to raise tensions further. The 36-year-old has now responded to the infamous session claiming that the clip showed just "little bits" of their famous duel.
"He leaked, or his team leaked, footage of sparring, all his best bits," Joyce continued. "Something has gone to his head. He seems to be a lot more vocal on Twitter and I guess I kind of took the bait. Let’s see what happens. I would love to fight him one day and one day soon I hope.
"Let’s see how he gets on with Usyk and then we will be in touch. But if he loses to Usyk, I might think: ‘Why would I fight you?’ I want belts. He has already got the belts and lost them. I want to win the belts and keep them."
