ANTHONY JOSHUA and Tyson Fury could relinquish their heavyweight world titles in order to secure their all-British blockbuster showdown.
The two stars are on a collision course for the biggest fight in decades in 2021 worth a reported £500million.
AJ successfully defended his WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF belts by delivering a stunning ninth-round knockout to Kubrat Pulev on Saturday.
That cleared the path for the bumper unification clash with the WBC champ Fury.
However, WBO president Paco Valcarcel has already hinted Joshua needs to face No1-ranked Oleksandr Usyk before the Gypsy King or he will have to vacate his belt.
And convincing each of the governing bodies to postpone their respective mandatory defences to allow the Englishmen to battle for the undisputed crown is proving to be a major obstacle.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn admitted there are ‘a few small issues that need ironing out’ after he held positive talks with Fury’s US representative Bob Arum.
And despite the prospect of their being a first undisputed champion for the first time at heavyweight since Lennox Lewis, Hearn says the pair are keen to get it on either with or without the belts on the line.
He said: “We have a fight on our hands, and sorry to the governing bodies, that eclipses all belts.
“We’ve just got to be a bit careful because you may be on the verge of saying, ‘Let’s just get rid of politics right now. Let’s just drop all the belts because if we lose one belt, we might as well lose them all.’
“You’ve got the biggest fight in world boxing, You are paying each governing body hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now you have got another guy (Usyk) who probably wants seven figures to step aside.
“We have just got to be careful because ultimately the aim of this fight has always been to be for the undisputed championship.
“We will do whatever we can to make sure that every belt in boxing is on the line in the Tyson Fury fight.
“What we won’t be is held to ransom and we won’t let politics get involved in a fight that boxing needs.”
Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren raised hopes a deal being agreed soon and stated only ‘egos’ would prevent it from happening.
Hearn added to Daily Mail: “We’re just trying to solve any remaining issues of the fight, of which there aren’t many, to be honest with you.
“We’re trying to move forward collectively to let the governing bodies know we plan to stage this fight probably in May and would like this to be for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world.
“There’s a few small issues to iron out but I think we can start looking at drawing up contracts and try to get this moving.”
