Anthony Joshua could give up WBO belt as he eyes Tyson Fury showdown with mandatory Oleksandr Usyk impatient for shot

ANTHONY JOSHUA could drop his WBO belt to secure a Tyson Fury double and keep Oleksandr Usyk at arm’s length.

AJ, 31, holds the WBA, IBF and WBO belts, and hopes to snatch Fury’s WBC crown next year to become undisputed champion.

Triple belt-holder Anthony Joshua’s overwhelming priority is to hold all the heavyweight crowns at the same time

Tyson Fury is set for two all-British super-fights wth Anthony Joshua

But Ukraine star Usyk is the WBO’s mandatory challenger and if he beats Derek Chisora tomorrow he insists he will not sit around waiting.

So Eddie Hearn, who promotes Joshua AND Usyk, has a plan — but it would mean only the first fight would be for all the titles.

He said: “I would be willing to say, subject to speaking to Anthony and Fury, that we would be willing to vacate the WBO title straight after their first fight, to let Usyk fight for it.

“Because we’re going to do two fights, we’re tied up for 2021, so we can only fight Usyk if we don’t make the Fury fight.

“I only want AJ to win the undisputed title. I’m not bothered about him defending it for the next ten years.

“I just want to be able to say: ‘You’re the undisputed heavyweight world champion, you won everything’.

“After that, if we can set up a fight between Usyk and whoever’s No 2 with the WBO, we’ll do that.”

AJ won his WBA mandatory defence against Alexander Povetkin in 2018. His bout with Kubrat Pulev on December 12 has been ordered by the IBF, so the WBO and Usyk are next in line.

And Hearn admits the undisputed cruiserweight king and the WBO will  take some convincing to step aside.

Oleksandr Usyk is the WBO’s mandatory challenger and if he beats Derek Chisora will want a shot at Anthony Joshua

He said: “Usyk and his team have got to do their job and push for it.

“I’ve got to do my job and be honest with everyone.

“I think everybody feels that even an undisputed fight may not trump that mandatory.

“The fact is the IBF are now first chronologically and then the WBO.

“So if Joshua beats Pulev and we make Fury against AJ, we would write to the WBO and say: ‘Do you want to do the fight with Tyson Fury against Anthony Joshua’ and they will either say: ‘Yes we’ll approve it’. Or, ‘no, Usyk is mandatory’.

“If it’s the latter, we go to Usyk and say: ‘Do you want to allow this fight’ and he says: ‘Yes but what are you going to give me?’ Or ‘no’. Then you deal with it from there.

“AJ wants to be undisputed. If we had to fight Fury with a belt missing, we’d do it. But the whole aim has always been the undisputed title.

“Once he wins it, I’m OK if we have to go into the second fight with one missing.”