30-strong squad named for British Lionhearts

The Lionhearts are in Group B of the World Series of Boxing along with Morocco Atlas Lions, Mexico Guerreros and USA Knockouts – with their first clash coming against the latter on January 21.

Joyce is one of three Super-heavyweight fighters selected along with Frazer Clarke and Petar Belberov – one of eight overseas selections.

The 30-strong team includes all six of Britain’s European Championship medallists from 2015 with Joe Cordina, Harvey Horn, Muhammad Ali, Qais Ashfaq, Pat McCormack and Joshua Buatsi also selected.

World Championship bronze medallist and Commonwealth champion Anthony Fowler also makes the cut in the middleweight division.

Joyce is a seasoned WSB fighter and has 12 wins from 14 bouts and he will be hoping to help Britain's qualification hopes for Rio 2016 – with the fighters who appear twice across 2015 and 2016 eligible for selection for the WSB Olympic qualifying event in Sofia in May.

"Competing in WSB is one of the qualification routes for Rio so this is a very important part of the GB Boxing squad's programme for 2016," said Rob McCracken, GB Boxing’s performance director and head coach.

"The format is slightly different to traditional Olympic-style boxing, however this is our third season in WSB, so we have more experience of the tournament which will provide valuable competition opportunities for the boxers as we move into the business end of the Olympic cycle."

Sportsbeat 2016