TYSON FURY could accelerate his chances of fighting Anthony Joshua by putting on a masterclass against Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury faces Usyk in the heavyweight division’s first four-belt unification bout on May 18 in Saudi Arabia.
And the two are contracted to an immediate rematch right after, leaving AJ with a wait to fight either.
But Fury’s Hall of Fame US promoter Bob Arum believes if the Gypsy King can beat Usyk convincingly enough, the rematch could be scrapped.
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And it would then allow Joshua, 34, to fill in to commence a Battle of Britain bout sooner than expected.
Arum told the Daily Mail: “I think the knock on Joshua has been that he’d lost his confidence. If a fighter loses his confidence, he’s very diminished.
“Now Joshua seems to be regaining his confidence, and if that continues Joshua will be a very dangerous fighter that could compete with anybody.
“What happens if Fury-Usyk turns out to be a classic? A fight that is so exciting and so thrilling that the public wants to see it again.
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“Then that would certainly trump a Joshua fight, and contractually, it’s a fight that has to happen.
“Now, what happens if it’s a one-sided fight and Fury wins the fight?
“Then maybe everybody can sit down with His Excellency Turki Alalshikh and work out some arrangement to go right to Fury-Joshua.
“If Usyk wins the fight, I don’t think there would be that much demand for an Usyk-Joshua fight because after all they fought twice and Usyk beat him twice.
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“So, one fight at a time, that’s my motto.”