‘We don’t trust him’ – Eddie Hearn reveals why Anthony Joshua turned down Tyson Fury’s step-aside offer

Eddie Hearn told Anthony Joshua that Tyson Fury could not be trusted amid talks over his lucrative step-aside offer.

Joshua received an offer, said to worth £15million, to step away from his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk and allow the Ukrainian to meet Fury to crown the heavyweight division’s first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis.

Joshua later dismissed ‘bulls**t’ suggestions a deal has been agreed with Fury now set to defend his WBC title against mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte.

While Fury was eager to fight Usyk, the WBC champion wanted a warm-up fight next month before the unification showdown in the summer.

And with Whyte’s mandatory title shot also in the mix, Hearn told Joshua he would potentially have to wait until 2023 to get his fight against the undisputed champion.

‘We don’t trust Fury to turn up to one fight, let alone agree to two, three or four,’ Hearn said.

‘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.

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‘I had to tell AJ that and he could not trust him.’

Fury and Whyte are expected to meet in April with Joshua likely to rematch Usyk in the summer.

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