FORMER WORLD heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is said to have accepted a £15million payment to allow a fight between Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury to happen in the future.
Usyk, the Ukrainian beat Joshua and took his titles last year and Fury beat Deontay Wilder to defend his WBC crown.
Fury was set to face mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte, but that has been delayed again due the huge news in boxing.
Joshua was set to face Usyk by activating his rematch clause, but is now said to have accepted the payment according The Telegraph
Joshua is now reportedly set to face the winner of Fury and Usyk.
🚨 BREAKING NEWS!!!
Anthony Joshua is about to accept 15 million pounds to step aside and let Tyson Fury fight Oleksander Usyk. pic.twitter.com/E2vbr4VEOl— BoxingTribeUK (@BoxingTribeUK) January 23, 2022
Frank Warren is Fury’s promoter and said:
"It’s a saga but if we can keep things between us, we can get something over the line one way or another.
“Everybody in boxing wants to see the undisputed fight between Tyson and Usyk, I want to see it just as a fan. So that is the fight we are trying to make.”
Eddie Hearn spoke to Boxing Social , the youtube channel and said that the original match-ups are going ahead of this moment, but big money is being placed on Fury and Usyk going ahead
“We are all still moving toward Joshua vs Usyk and Fury vs Whyte but there are still people who would like to see Fury vs Usyk for the undisputed and would be willing to pay a lot of money for it," Hearn said.
He also added
“If there is a lot of money in the pot and there can be a plan put in place to make all the fighters happy then there is a chance it can happen, but the problem is time.
"Talks were ongoing for Fury to fight Usyk and AJ to fight the winner but then Dillian Whyte got called as mandatory and had to come into the talks, which made it a lot harder and everyone gave up.
“The plan now is AJ vs Usyk and Fury vs Whyte but those other talks do still rumble on, if I had to bet on the next fights that take place, it would be the two scheduled fights taking place.
“But there is a strong desire to find a way to have an undisputed fight with AJ fighting the winner - and without Dillian I think this would have happened.”
‼️ Anthony Joshua is reportedly now "close to accepting" a £15million step-aside deal which could help to enable Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO heavyweight world titles to take place next in the Middle East. [According to @TelegraphSport]
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) January 24, 2022