ANTHONY JOSHUA has got until Christmas to decide if he is going to give Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk their undisputed decider.
The Brit was outpointed by Ukrainian Usyk in September — a month before Fury settled his Deontay Wilder trilogy with a knockout.
AJ, 32, insisted he wanted instant revenge and activated a rematch clause for a shot at reclaiming his WBA, IBF and WBO titles from Usyk, 34.
But he has since admitted he is open to accepting step-aside money and a guaranteed shot at the winner of Fury vs Usyk.
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren is happy to hear Joshua has a price — but warned him he needs to decide soon, ideally before the end of next week.
He said: “Everybody wants to see the undisputed fight between Tyson and Usyk.
“That’s between two undefeated fighters with all four of the belts.
“Tyson Fury — the bigger man — against the guy who took Anthony Joshua to school. That is the massive fight.
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“The only thing that stands in the way of that is AJ. He has done an interview where he has stated, ‘I am a businessman’, and when someone says that, the question is ‘how much?’. One thing for sure is that we need to decide before Christmas, ideally within the next seven or eight days.
“If that doesn’t happen then we will make a UK fight for Tyson in March and that could be Dillian Whyte, Joe Joyce or anyone else that Tyson decides upon.”
Recently 2012 Olympic golden boy Joshua claimed his team would never even dare to bring step-aside offers to his attention because they know how focused he is on regaining his belts and shutting up his critics.
But in the same interview he made it clear he would be ready to let his two biggest rivals meet if the deal is worth his while.
Warren reckons that has opened the boardroom door to a shock deal getting done.
He added: “I watched the interview and in one part he is talking about how important his sporting legacy is but in the next breath he is saying he is a businessman.
“With businessmen it is always about money.
“If he takes the deal then he doesn’t have to face Usyk again, straight away, in a fight I think Usyk is the favourite.
“He can instead go into an undisputed fight with the winner.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
