'TOO GREEDY'
Anthony Joshua ‘demanded an extra £3.7million to step aside and allow Tyson Fury to face Usyk in undisputed bout’
ANTHONY JOSHUA has been accused by Frank Warren of scuppering Tyson Fury's undisputed heavyweight title fight with Oleksandr Usyk by demanding more step-aside money.
A last-gasp bid to make the blockbuster unification bout fell through just hours before Fury's domestic dust-up with Dillian Whyte went to purse bids on Friday.
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Joshua was offered a £15million payday to walk away from his rematch with the undefeated Usyk, a fee promoter Warren claims wasn't enough for the former unified heavyweight champ.
During an appearance on , the Queensberry Promotions chief said: “As far as Tyson was concerned, it dragged on.
“When Joshua asked for an extra $5million, he said, ‘Enough is enough,’ and that was it.
“He said, ‘I’m not interested, he’s too greedy,’ and that was enough. He’s a champion – Tyson’s not beholden to Anthony Joshua.
“Him and Usyk wanted to get it on, both of them wanted to get it on.
“But you had two people in the middle – one was suing the WBC and the other one was asking for more and more money.”
AJ promoter Eddie Hearn claimed the Saudi showdown collapsed because the Gypsy King wanted a warm-up fight ahead of the multi-million-pound desert dust-up.
Warren dismissed that notion, saying: “It’s all irrelevant and I don’t particularly care what Eddie Hearn said.
“Eddie Hearn says lots of things and he’s part of the problem why these things don’t get over the line.
“A year ago when we were trying to put together a fight between Joshua and Tyson, every week he was saying, ‘It’s done, the contracts are being issued,’ despite the fact we all signed an agreement not to make any statements until it was done.”
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Fury and Whyte's long-awaited Battle of Britain is tentatively slated to take place on April 23, with the Principality Stadium in Cardiff the most likely venue to stage the bout.
SunSport, however, understands other stadiums are also in the running to stage the grudge match.
Joshua's potentially do-or-die rematch with Usyk, meanwhile, is expected to take place in May.
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