Bermane Stiverne claims he’s fighting Joe Joyce on DeGale-Eubank Jr. card

Former WBC champion Bermane Stiverne has not fought since his disastrous rematch with Deontay Wilder in November of 2017. Now, he tells BWTM Sports that he’s fighting 2016 Olympic silver medalist Joe Joyce on February 23rd as part of the James DeGale-Chris Eubank Jr. undercard.

Joyce appeared to confirm the fight later in the evening.

Stiverne (25-3-1, 21 KO) turned 40 this past November and, partially thanks to a morbidly amusing series of back-and-forth drug test failures with Alexander Povetkin, has fought just once since 2015. He hit the scales for the Wilder rematch at his highest weight since 2008 and wound up getting dropped three times in the opening round.

Joyce (7-0, 7 KO) has been linked to a fight with Luis Ortiz, but with “King Kong” facing Christian Hammer in March, that appears to have been tabled for now. “The Juggernaut” fought six times in 2018 and will have to keep that sort of pace throughout his rise, as he debuted at the age of 32.