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Anthony Joshua has been tipped to face WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in an all-British heavyweight match in December and former opponent Oleksandr Usyk has offered to help Joshua train for the fight against Fury.
The fight is expected to take place at the end of this year, with the undefeated Fury set to go into the bout as the overwhelming favourite to claim the spoils against his long-time rival.
WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF champion Usyk offered his services to Joshua ahead of the fight by insisting that he will be on hand to assist in training if he is asked to between now and the start of December.
“If he needs my help, I will go to his camp and help him,” Usyk told Sky Sports via Boxing Scene. “He is not 40 years old, he is 33, so he should keep working.
“Anthony, don’t stop. I understand that he wanted to win against me, but Anthony can’t give up. He must go forward.”
Fury was mocked for ‘running’ away from an undisputed heavyweight clash with Usyk by the latter’s manager, Egis Klimas. Fury has been trying to goad Anthony Joshua into fighting him in a long-awaited British grudge match over the last few days in spite of reports suggesting that an all-star bout with Usyk could be arranged in the not-too-distant future.
Fury posted a series of videos to Twitter on Thursday in which he continued to call out Joshua, who was beaten on points by Usyk for the second time in his career last month. Kilmas has since taken to the social media platform himself to poke fun at Fury, with the 34-year-old seemingly eager to chase a fight with Joshua rather than Usyk as things stand.
“This is an excellent way to run from Usyk,” wrote Kilmas. “Calling out others but not answering Usyk. JOKE!”
Fury had previously asked for a fee of £500m in order to face Usyk, who has established himself as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport in recent years. He made light work of Joshua in their first meeting to steal the Watford native’s heavyweight titles towards the end of last year before defending his belts with another points victory in Saudi Arabia in August.
Usyk wasted no time in calling out Fury after his latest win over Joshua, but it seems as though the idea of an undisputed fight between the pair may need to be put on hold for now.
A bout between Fury and Joshua would not be blocked by an obligation on Fury’s part to face a mandatory challenger, with the WBC having confirmed that it would be open to the ‘interesting’ possibility of a British heavyweight battle in the near future.