Hughie Fury has been ordered to defend his British Heavyweight title against unbeaten challenger Joe Joyce.
Hughie — the brother of Tyson Fury, who challenges Deontay Wilder for the WBC world heavyweight title on Dec. 1 — lost out to Kubrat Pulev in a final eliminator for the IBF heavyweight title last month.
The British Boxing Board of Control has requested he now defends his British belt against Joyce before the end of March 2019.
Fury, 29, (21-2, 11 KOs) missed out on his big chance to become the mandatory challenger for Anthony Joshua’s IBF world heavyweight title after a unanimous points decision defeat to Bulgarian Pulev in Sofia.
It was his second defeat in three fights, with Joseph Parker edging their contest for the WBO heavyweight title in Sept. 2017.
Joyce, 33, (6-0, 6 KOs) is undefeated after enjoying a successful amateur career including Commonwealth Games and European gold medals and a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics.
He is scheduled to fight Joe Hanks on the undercard of the Fury-Wilder bout at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles and has been sparring with Fury during his preparations.