ANTHONY JOSHUA’S scrap with Tyson Fury is now on the backburner after the British champ was ordered to face Oleksandr Usyk.
WBA, IBF and WBO champion AJ was given a 48-hour deadli to salvage his planned clash with the WBC title holder Fury by the WBO on Wednesday.
It hasn’t been met and therefore the WBO have stepped in demanding AJ needs to fulfil his mandatory defence against Usyk.
And they have put extra pressure on the fighters to secure the deal by handing them just 10 days to negotiate.
If a deal can’t be landed in that time, a purse bid ceremony will be called immediately per WBO rules.
TalkSPORT’s boxing editor Michael Benson confirmed the update and wrote on Twitter: “The WBO have now officially ordered Anthony Joshua to defend his unified heavyweight titles vs Oleksandr Usyk next.
“The two sides have ten days to reach a deal, or purse bids will be called.”
AJ and Fury finally looked set to lock horns with the Battle of Britain on August 14.
But a Court of Arbitration ordered Fury to fulfil his contractual demands to fight Deontay Wilder for a third and final time.
Fury’s US promoter Bob Arum then confirmed Wilder will not agree to ‘step aside’ to allow the Joshua fight to happen – even though AJ offered to set up a £20m GoFundMe page to raise the dosh.
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Joshua appeared to confirm that his focus has switched to fighting the Ukrainian in a Snapchat post on Friday.
AJ shared a shot of himself at the end of a previous fight looking into the crowd, with Usyk sat staring straight back at him.
He captioned the photo with the words: “Everyday is war.”
And Usyk’s promoter has told Sky Sports that Wembley Stadium could be the venue for an August bout between his man and the Brit.
Alexander Krassyuk said: “WBO has to issue the official enforcement for the mandatory today.
“According to my knowledge, AJ is ready to take the challenge.
“It may happen anywhere including Wembley, but yet no serious venue commitments have been made.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
