Eddie Hearn believes Tyson Fury would only return for an undisputed clash against Anthony Joshua as he is "worried" about fighting Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury announced his retirement from boxing after making the last defence of his heavyweight title against Dillian Whyte in April, knocking out his domestic rival in the sixth round. 'The Gypsy King' has insisted he is done with the sport despite an undisputed fight against the winner of Usyk's rematch with Joshua being on the table for him.
Hearn claims that Fury was offered a fight against Usyk before his clash with WBC mandatory challenger Whyte, but he turned it down. The promoter told iFL TV : "[Fury] had the chance to fight Usyk before DIllian Whyte and he didn't want to fight him for the undisputed title.
"He wanted to have a warm-up fight and then go into Usyk. That deal broke down and it was there for him, I don't think he'll like the style of [Usyk]. Maybe he's not that motivated about being undisputed if it's Usyk. I feel like he thinks he can beat Joshua, he knows the money will be out of control and he'll take the fight in my opinion.
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When asked if Fury is "worried" to fight the Ukrainian, Hearn said: "Yes, I don't think he's that confident about that fight. If he wasn't worried, the deal was there in place for him to fight Usyk for the undisputed championship and that's facts. If he believes he could have beat him, he would have taken the fight and become undisputed."
Joshua, who fights Usyk for the second time on August 20 in Saudi Arabia, was in talks to step aside from the fight to allow Fury to face the former undisputed cruiserweight champion earlier this year. But talks collapsed and Fury went on to fight Whyte whilst Joshua will look to become a three-time champion next month.
Hearn insists that the only fight to make for Joshua, if he can avenge his loss to Usyk, is an undisputed clash against Fury. The promoter said that if Fury doesn't make his boxing return, Joshua will have to work through mandatory challengers if he reclaims his belts.
"The only fight we want to make if he wins is the undisputed fight with Fury but obviously he's going to be around for a long time, so he'll have to go through mandatory challengers like he always has. He's never ducked a mandatory challenger, that's not what's AJ is about," Hearn added.
