British heavyweight Joe Joyce has offered his prediction for the upcoming showdown between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

Fury and Joshua’s long-awaited meeting is around the corner, with the iconic heavyweight duo poised to collide in five weeks’ time in one of the most hotly anticipated bouts to have ever taken place on British soil.

Given both men’s respective below-par showings against Mariusz Wach and Kristian Prenga, the general consensus is that – whilst the event is still one of significant magnitude – it has come a few years too late.

Speaking to Sun Boxing, Olympic silver medallist Joyce highlighted the vulnerabilities shown in Joshua’s dramatic two-round shootout with Prenga back in July when explaining why he favours ‘The Gypsy King’ to come out on top.

“If Fury hits him with a shot like that and he keeps going and moving and stuff, then I think that it is a difficult night for Joshua.

“He [Fury] is in a good state of mind and skills-wise, with his footwork and the work that we are doing with SugarHill Steward, I am in favour of Fury.

“AJ has obviously got a puncher’s chance, he hits really hard and he can put shots together but his chin is a little bit suspect as he has shown that he can be dropped.”

It is perhaps no surprise to see Joyce backing ‘The Gypsy King’ as he has been brought into Fury’s camp as a sparring partner in order to best prepare the two-time heavyweight champion for ‘AJ’, with Fury-Joshua scheduled to take place on Friday, December 11.

‘Juggernaut’ previously spent years sparring ‘AJ’ when the latter was trained by Team GB’s Rob McCracken.