Eddie Hearn

Joshua looking for Plan B after Fury fight thrown into doubt

Britons Fury, 32, and Joshua, 31, had agreed to a heavyweight title bout in Saudi Arabia on 14 August.

But earlier this week a US judge ruled Fury must fight American Deontay Wilder for a third time by 15 September.

Hearn, Joshua's promoter, said the "game changed" with the ruling.

"We have to have a plan B in place. The one that springs to mind is the WBO mandatory - Oleksandr Usyk."

Less than a week ago Hearn told BBC he did not have any back-up plan in place because he was confident Joshua-Fury would be finalised.

Hearn believes AJ can cope with year off

Joshua is due to put his world heavyweight titles on the line against IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 20.

Hearn, the Brit's promoter, knows that is unlikely to go ahead due to the coronavirus pandemic, given there is no knowing when sport will resume and Spurs still have a Premier League season to finish.

Fury and Wilder were due to do battle for a third time in July, but the WBC champion's co-promoter, Bob Arum, said the trilogy fight could be put back to October.

Reinstate Whyte, urges Hearn

The promoter's call comes in the wake of Whyte being cleared by UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) after initially being charged by the body for testing positive for a banned substance.

After beating Oscar Rivas on points in July, Whyte was provisionally stripped of his WBC interim title and status as mandatory challenger to champion Wilder by the sanctioning body.

However, the Briton was on the undercard for Anthony Joshua's rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr. and, ahead of Saturday's victory over Mariusz Wach, UKAD announced he had been absolved of any wrongdoing.

Hearn: Come test AJ's chin

Eddie Hearn won't give Joseph Parker his desired 35 per cent of a fight purse, but says a unification bout deal with Anthony Joshua is close.

Parker's promoter David Higgins insisted that a 35 per cent cut was their final offer to Joshua's boss Hearn as they called out the IBF and WBA champion, accusing him of having a "glass chin".

While Hearn appeared bemused by the promotional video that featured Joshua being knocked to the canvas by a series of opponents, it seems to have helped the cause of gaining his attention and that of the UK boxing market.