Eddie Hearn has revealed that distrust saw him and Anthony Joshua reject a step aside deal.
While Anthony Joshua has made the decision to use his rematch option in the initial fight deal with Oleksandr Usyk, there was a significant element of doubt over whether he would actually go through with it.
Big players in the boxing world were understood to be keen to fast-track the undisputed bout, pinning Usyk and Tyson Fury against each other and paying Joshua a lump sum in exchange for him stepping aside.
However, it never materialised, with Fury revealing last week that he will instead be fighting WBC mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte. Eddie Hearn has now explained why they rejected the offer to step aside, as quoted by The Sun.
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“AJ did not want to step aside and when Fury asked for a March fight he really did not want to step aside. We had to trust Fury to have a fight in March, then Usyk in June, AJ in December, then Dillian.”
“I had to tell AJ that and he could not trust him.”
It would make no sense for Joshua to sacrifice his opportunity to win back the heavyweight world titles if he was not 100% certain that things would pan out in a favourable way for him.
He may well have made the right decision.
