Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte would look for £20 million between them to allow an undisputed heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk to take place, according to The Daily Star.
Plans remain afoot for Joshua to rematch Usyk before the summer after losing his three world titles to the masterful Ukrainian last year. While Whyte, the WBC Interim champion, is the mandatory challenger to face Fury with purse bids for that fight put back until Friday, January 21 and reportedly could be postponed once again.
But as Eddie Hearn revealed to Boxing Social yesterday talks are still taking place for Fury to face Usyk. “It’s true and we’re obviously right in the midst of those negotiations as well. I think there’s a chance of that. We’re all still moving towards Joshua v Usyk and Whyte-Fury. If those discussions [for Fury-Usyk] resurface, and things can change very quickly, then we would entertain those.”
Should Fury (WBC champion) and Usyk (WBA, IBF and WBO champion face one another for all four heavyweight belts then Joshua and Whyte would need to be compensated to step aside for an undisputed fight to happen. The Daily Star reports that Joshua would expect around £15 million pounds while Whyte’s figure to walk from fighting Fury next would be in the £5 million ballpark.
Joshua is expected to name his new trainer to replace Robert McCracken soon and is still preparing to face Usyk. Whyte, unhappy at the 20% split he would receive to face Fury, will expect to face the ‘Gypsy King’ next and finally challenge for a world heavyweight title.