By Elliot Foster

Joe Joyce will be up against Tom Little in London next month.

It was revealed last week that the Olympic silver medal-winning amateur, 32, who lost to Tony Yoka of France in the super-heavyweight final at Rio last year, would be back in the ring on December 17, exclusively live on Sky Sports Box Office.

Joyce made a sensational start to his paid career back in October when he stopped Ian Lewison inside eight of 10 scheduled rounds at the Indigo at the O2.

He will move from the 2,350-seat venue to roughly 30 metres away for his next outing after it was confirmed that he would take on Little at the O2 Arena, as part of the undercard to Tony Bellew’s heavyweight rematch against David Haye.

The pair have traded insults on social media for a few weeks prior to the fight being confirmed, but Bellew quote-tweeted one of their barbs, saying that he was “pleased” to add the fight to the line-up for the return of the first fight which took place in March at the same venue.

Little, 30, is 10-4 with three quick finishes and was most recently in the ring six days before Joyce’s debut.

According to BoxRec, Little –– who will go into the fight on the back of three consecutive wins since losing to Dominic Akinlade on points in August 2016 –– is set to fight on December 1, but that fight is more than likely going to be scrapped after this outing was agreed.

Joyce’s fight with Little on the Bellew-Haye II card will be flanked by another appearance for Craig Glover, the Tony Bellew-managed cruiserweight, Rocky Fielding's meeting with Erik Skoglund for the vacant WBC Silver super-middleweight title and the Commonwealth heavyweight title rematch between Lenroy Thomas and David Allen.

Further undercard additions will be revealed in due course –– and Boxing Scene understands that Joyce’s fellow 2016 Olympian Joshua Buatsi and ‘The Destroyer’ Conor Benn will end the year on the card.

In other news, English featherweight champion Samir Mouneimne, Irish lightweight Ciaran McVarnock –– who recently parted ways with MTK Global –– and amateur standout Jake James have all signed managerial deals with Jason McClory at Longshots Sports.

And MTK Global has confirmed a new signing as well as a fight date for one of its heavyweights.

Sean Turner will face former David Haye opponent Arnold Gjergjaj on December 9 at the Grand Casino in Basle, Switzerland over eight rounds, while Dan Azeez has inked with the managerial outfit ahead of his switch to the paid code.