Eddie Hearn, Anthony Joshua’s promoter, has intimated that the boxer might be willing to move aside and enable Tyson Fury to face Oleksandr Usyk for £40 million.
In September, Joshua was defeated decisively by Usyk, and he lost his unified heavyweight belts by unanimous decision.
He has subsequently activated a rematch clause and is set to face Ukrainian in March or April of next year.
However, there is talk that Joshua may accept an offer to stand aside for a prospective fight between Usyk and Fury, which would crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion in almost two decades.
Fury, who maintained his WBC championship by knocking out Deontay Wilder, was close to agreeing to face Dillian Whyte in his next fight when the WBC declined to appoint him as the Gypsy King’s mandatory challenger.
He has therefore turned his attention to an undisputed battle with Usyk.
Hearn has now suggested a price that will see Joshua step aside.
He told Boxing King Media: “Seven figures? A million? If you want to get him not to fight Oleksandr Usyk you have to times that by 40…
“At the moment there is communication between the two teams to say is it something, and the answer is AJ has not been spoken about this yet.
“I’ll deal with it and when I feel there’s an opportunity for Anthony and 258 (Management) we’ll sit down with them and present it to them but I won’t do that until it’s the right opportunity.
“If there’s a route and an offer and it makes sense then we’ll see but right now, it’s just conversations between the camps.”
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