Tyson Fury could be set for a huge showdown with Oleksandr Usyk sooner than what was initially expected.
Anthony Joshua has reportedly agreed to step-aside from his rematch with Usyk for a £15m fee, clearing the way for Fury and Usyk to face-off in a unification bout.
A fight of that magnitude is highly anticipated and would crown the first-ever unified heavyweight champion of the four-belt era and has been in the works for a while.
Fury was set to face-off against Joshua last year in Saudi Arabia before an American court ruled he must honour his trilogy bout with Deontay Wilder, which led to AJ's clash with Usyk in September.
The defeat for the Brit was disappointing to those who were hoping to see a unification bout early this year but hopes have risen through the latest developments.
A fight for Usyk against Fury would undoubtedly be the biggest of his career and, despite Fury's spectacular record, the Ukrainian admitted previously he wasn't too impressed by his displays.
His comments came following Fury's trilogy bout victory against Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas in October, a fight widely regarded to be one of the best in the modern era of boxing.
“I did watch the fight but I didn’t think much [of] it. They just wanted to kill each other," he said about Fury's trilogy bout with Wilder.
Those comments will likely be brought into the headlines once again in the build-up to a unification bout with Fury, who is certainly not one to mince his words.
With plenty of time before the pair do face off in the ring, it's likely that there will be more words exchanged before they go head-to-head.
