Anthony Joshua has confirmed that his demands caused the collapse of a deal that would have seen him step-aside and allow Tyson Fury to fight Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua is due a mandatory rematch with the Ukrainian, who beat him last year, but had been extended an offer to relinquish that match to set up a unification heavyweight fight between Fury and Usyk.
A deal had been thought to have been close, but collapsed after Joshua upped his demand for financial recompense.
Fury will now go ahead with a fight with Dillian Whyte at Wembley in April.
Elaborating on the final days of negotiations, Joshua revealed that his suggested fee to step-aside was sufficiently large it made any deal unworkable for Fury’s promoters.
“I asked them for a big stack of dough which I knew they wouldn’t be able to get,” Joshua told IFL TV. “If they did get it I would have considered it but they didn’t get it
“I’m focused on the Oleksandr Usyk rematch. If it was hundreds of millions, I’d have been like, ‘yeah, let’s look at it’ but it wasn’t.
“I want to fight and the money will come if I go out there and win. Money comes with success so I’d rather do what I can do in the ring, get revenge and get the belts back.”
The rematch had been pencilled in for late spring or early summer, but could be delayed by Russia’s invasion of Usyk’s native Ukraine.
The two-weight champion has returned to his homeland and enlisted with the Ukrainian army.
Promoter Eddie Hearn is working on a venue for the fight, but admitted that the conflict in the Ukraine is of greater importance: “Usyk’s got a lot on his plate at the moment from a personal perspective and we respect that, but we’re working to determine where the fight is going to take place.”
