Eddie Hearn says the prospect of Anthony Joshua accepting a step-aside offer to allow Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk to fight remains a real possibility.
Reports this week have claimed Joshua is ready to accept a huge £15million offer to step away from his rematch with Usyk and allow the Ukrainian to meet Fury to crown the heavyweight division’s first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis.
Joshua himself has strongly dismissed ‘bulls**t’ suggestions a deal has been agreed.
Speaking to the DAZN Boxing Show, Hearn confirmed there is an offer on the table but insisted the deal is far from done.
But he also admitted there is a ‘lot of sense’ in taking the money.
‘There has been an offer, there’s been several discussions with myself,’ Hearn said.
‘I can’t rule it out, it’s not my job. AJ’s the boss – he will rule it out or not rule it out. He’s very smart about the plan. He won’t want to do it.
‘A lot of people who know boxing, know that if you’re going to a new trainer, people will say, ‘It’s a very smart move.’
‘And then on the other hand it’s, ‘Oh, you’re ducking him.’ You can’t win.
‘Anthony has never ducked anyone, he won’t want to let one person think he’s ducking that challenge.’
Joshua has been working with a number of potential new trainers in recent months following the defeat to Usyk.
And Hearn admits the possibility of taking the offer and accepting another fight in the meantime while working with that new trainer could be an option.
‘Sometimes you have to think with your head. There is a smart play here somewhere, but Anthony is not about the money,’ Hearn continued.
‘If the plan makes sense from a development point of view – working with a new trainer, maybe having a fight first, going into a much bigger fight – yeah, I can see the sense in it.
‘But with Anthony it’s never been a case of, ‘Here’s some money, does it tempt you?’
‘Because he’s not about that, he’s a throwback fighter, he’s about legacy. All he’s thinking about at the moment is beating Oleksandr Usyk.’
Joshua is understood to have activated his rematch clause after losing his IBF, WBO and WBA titles to Usyk last September.
The possibility of a unification bout between Fury and Usyk is also complicated by the fact that Dillian Whyte is the mandatory challenger for the Briton’s WBC belt – with the deadline for that agreement at 6pm tonight.
And Hearn insists Joshua’s no1 goal is to reclaim his titles.
‘All he wants to do is win the world heavyweight title back. Right now he has a cast-iron opportunity to do that in a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
‘So any step-aside, any other plan has to be solid.
‘It’s not, ‘Yeah hopefully you get the winner,’ and then Fury fights Usyk and then Fury decides to be inactive for two years.
‘He’s not out there looking for another fight, looking for a step-aside.
‘He will, as always, be the one that call the shots. He’s made it clear at the moment what that shot looks like.’
Hearn also insisted the £15million fee, reported by the Daily Telegraph on Sunday, is wide of the mark.
‘I’m not saying there’s no truth in some of the article in terms of the process, what happens with step-aside and stuff like that.
‘The fee’s wrong, lots of other stuff is wrong as well.
‘Some of it was true, some of it wasn’t. There’s no contract signed, there’s a long way to go in terms of the detail.’
MORE : Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua facing deadline that will determine their heavyweight futures
MORE : Anthony Joshua hits back at ‘b******t’ claims he’s accepted £15m step aside offer to allow Tyson Fury v Oleksandr Usyk title fight
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