[3] He received a shot at the vacant WABU lightweight title on March 26, 2017, facing Ghanaian veteran Mettle Ayitey at the Indoor Sports Hall of Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan.
[6][7] On December 26, 2017, Joseph stopped Egyptian fighter Ahmed Abdulrahim for the African lightweight title at GOtv Boxing Night 13 in Lagos.
[9] In his first successful title defense, he defeated Ghanaian contender Nathanael Nukpe by unanimous decision seven months later at GOtv Boxing Night 15 in the Indoor Sports Hall of Adamasingba Stadium.
[11] He dominated the Ghanaian challenger in a short fight; the referee stopped it in the second round in Joseph's favor after Tetteh was visibly struggling to keep his balance.
In January 2020, the African Boxing Union (ABU) announced it had stripped him of his lightweight title belt due to his inability to defend it in the stipulated time frame.