ANTHONY JOSHUA will fight Oleksandr Usyk if Tyson Fury faces Deontay Wilder in a trilogy bout, revealed Eddie Hearn.
AJ defends his unified titles against Pulev on December 12 and Fury was due to make his homecoming a week prior.
Anthony Joshua will fight Oleksandr Usyk if Tyson Fury faces Deontay Wilder in a trilogy bout Credit: Getty Images – Getty
Usyk is Joshua’s WBO mandatory challenger Credit: ©Mark Robinson Ltd
But the Gypsy King’s return to a British ring was cancelled and he could instead be forced into an immediate rematch with Deontay Wilder, 35.
Wilder has lodged a mediation to salvage his crack at redemption and Fury’s US promoter Bob Arum revealed the WBC champion is now likely to fight in February.
It means a potential undisputed title decider – which was targeted for May – would have to be backdated.
But Joshua’s matchmaker Hearn confirmed they have no plans to wait for Fury to have a fight beforehand.
Asked what AJ will do if Fury has to face Wilder, Hearn told iFL TV: “Fight Usyk.
“But we want the Fury fight, I can’t make that any clearer. The only fight that AJ wants if he beats Pulev is Tyson Fury.”
If Fury, 32, is to return to the ring early next year, Hearn warned Joshua, 31, will fight at the start of the summer, with or without him.
He said: “We can’t wait around, so just hold your horses until December 12.
Fury may be forced into a trilogy bout with Wilder Credit: PA:Press Association
“That’s they key date in the heavyweight calendar because if AJ can beat Puelv we want to make that fight (Fury) immediately for late spring or early summer of 2021.
“We don’t want to wait around for him to have another interim fight.
“The path was very clear; he was fighting on December 5th, he told everyone he was fighting no matter what, blah, blah, blah and we’re fighting December 12.
“Then we’re fighting each other. So it’s not, OK, we’ll fight on December 12 as he planned and promised and then you fight in March and we’ll see what happens.
“We’ve got the Usyk situation to sort out. As soon as we finish our fight, Usyk will be saying, ‘I’m mandatory now. Come on WBO let’s go’.
“Straight after our fight we need to know, do you want that fight next or not? And the answer has to be yes.”
Tyson Fury’s ceiling falls down as heavyweight champ smashes heavy bag in training for Anthony Joshua or Deontay Wilder
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
