Eddie Hearn has confirmed that Anthony Joshua is currently considering an offer to allow Tyson Fury to face Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed title next.
Fury and Usyk have had a massive deal tabled by a country in the Middle East to have them fight for all the belts this year, but they would need Joshua and Fury's mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte to step aside.
And Hearn, who is Joshua's promoter and works closely with Whyte, believes that there is now an offer that the two-time champion will have to consider.
“There has been an offer," Hearn said in an interview with the DAZN Boxing Show. "There have been several discussions with myself.
"I can’t rule it out, it’s not my job. AJ is the boss. He’s very smart about the plan. He won’t want to do it.
“Anthony has never ducked anyone, he won’t want to let one person think he’s ducking that challenge.
"Sometimes you have to think with your head; there is a smart play here somewhere, but Anthony is not about the money.
"If the plan makes sense from a development point of view, working with a new trainer, maybe having a fight first.
“He’s about legacy. All he’s thinking about is Oleksandr Usyk.”
However, the deal has not been made, and Joshua has yet to be brought in for the finer details of the conversations.
A sticking point for the deal is that both Joshua and Whyte would, in theory, be entitled to demand the first shot at the undisputed champion.
But deciding who would actually get that opportunity could prove difficult, and may play a part in negotiations as well.
“There’s definitely no deal done for him to step aside,” Hearn said elsewhere in the discussion. “There are conversations, and I’ll have those conversations with him.
"In his mind, he wants to rematch Oleksandr Usyk, and until the time comes that a long-form contract comes to us, and makes sense.
"This is much deeper than a step aside fee - the money is something that needs to be negotiated.
“This is the plan: All he wants to do is win the heavyweight title back, and right now he has a cast iron opportunity to do that in a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
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"Any other plan has to be solid, not hopefully you get the winner - he’s not out there looking for another plan, looking for a step aside.
"He will always call the shots. He’s made it clear what that shot looks like."
And Joshua, Hearn says, takes his role as the boss in his negotiations very seriously.
He was unhappy with media reports that he had agreed to a £15million offer for a step aside deal earlier this week, slamming them as "bulls***".
And his promoter says that should a deal be confirmed, fans will be told by his team first.
“I think that AJ, from his POV; he’s always been the boss," Hearn continued.
"He’s always been the guy who makes the calls, who makes the decision.
“There’s been a lot of speculation in newspapers that a deal’s done, I think that sometimes that gets his back up a little bit.
"He's like ‘When a deal’s done, you'll hear it from me'."
