Legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum has posed a theory which could see Tyson Fury fight Anthony Joshua earlier than expected.
Fury has always maintained he will have a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk but Arum reckons that may not happen to bring forward a bout with his fellow Brit.
Joshua beat Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia in early March to push forward his case of a shot at becoming undisputed heavyweight champion.
Fury and Usyk will go head to head for all four belts on May 18 and it is expected that Joshua will eventually fight the winner.
Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua could enter the ring earlier than expected
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Fury says he is contracted to fight Usyk twice before he considers arranging a bout with Joshua.
However, Arum has come up with a scenario which could see Fury and Usyk only battle it out once.
The 92-year-old believes if the Fury-Usyk fight in May is a classic, then a rematch would be on the cards.
But if it turns out to be a one-sided affair, Arum can see an 'arrangement' where a rematch is scrapped and Joshua gets to fight Fury earlier.
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.
"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. So, one fight at a time, that’s my motto."
Fury has not fought since his narrow win over Ngannou last October where he had to rely on the judges' decision.
Arum claims the Gypsy King wasn't in the condition to fight anyone on that night but has backed him to be at his peak against Usyk.
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Anthony Joshua knocked out Francis Ngannou in his last fight on March 8
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He added: "I look at his performance with Fury as really Fury being not ready to fight anybody that night, but Ngannou did what he had to do to make it competitive.
"He knows how tough a fight Usyk is. Usyk is a tremendous athlete, very determined, has never lost a fight.
"So I really believe we’ll see the best of Tyson Fury on May 18."
Ngannou's future in boxing is in doubt after he was knocked out by Joshua in just the second round.
Tyson Fury is gearing up to face Oleksandr Usyk in May
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Arum says the Cameroon-born star has plenty to learn if he wants to stay in the sport.
He said: "He got knocked out by Joshua, which because of the experience and skill level is not surprising.
"Now Ngannou has to go back and if he wishes to learn how to be a real fighter with sparring and training and so forth, then I think he could be very competitive in the heavyweight division.
"But whether he stays in boxing or goes back to MMA, that’s up to him."
