‘Everybody wants it’ – Anthony Joshua told to step aside and allow Tyson Fury to fight Oleksandr Usyk by Frank Warren
FRANK WARREN claimed ‘everybody wants’ Anthony Joshua to step aside to allow Tyson Fury to fight Oleksandr Usyk.
Usyk beat AJ in September to win the unified WBA, IBF and WBO belts but is now contracted to a rematch.
Fury, who retained his WBC title against Deontay Wilder in October, has maintained he wants to fight the Ukrainian next.
But he would need Joshua to agree to being paid to sit on the sidelines, and has already started negotiations to pull it off.
Promoter Warren told iFL TV: “There’s been talks going on for a while now and it’s all got to come to fruition, it’s got to move on now.
“It seems to me there is a will to make this happen and hopefully if we can get everybody to sign an agreement, without announcing it, we can move forward.
“Until it’s signed it don’t mean nothing. There is a will and we all want it, everybody wants this fight between Tyson and Usyk. Everybody.”
Joshua, 32, confusingly admitted he had no intentions of stepping aside for Fury, 33, but would at least consider it if the price is right.
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For the Gypsy King, he could be ordered into a mandatory title defence against Dillian Whyte, 33, who is the WBC ‘interim’ champion.
But Whyte’s prior legal case with the WBC, to speed up his much-earned shot at the belt, has actually prevented his fight with Fury from being ordered.
And an undisputed title fight could supersede a mandatory defence but AJ would have to wait for Whyte to then fight the winner of Fury and Usyk.
Joshua has been warned he has until Christmas to make up his mind and decide whether he will rematch Usyk, 34, or not.
Fury’s US promoter Bob Arum has revealed Saudi Arabia has shown an interest in hosting an undisputed showdown with Usyk in March.