Tyson Fury considering pay-off to Deontay Wilder to step aside and enable Anthony Joshua fight

Former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder has given his intention to activate a rematch clause against Fury but promoter Frank Warren has opened the door to the American stepping aside to allow a unification bout with Joshua to take place first

Tyson Fury’s promoter Frank Warren has raised the prospect of paying Deontay Wilder to step aside and enable a blockbuster heavyweight unification bout with Anthony Joshua this summer.

The American suffered a seventh-round stoppage against Fury to drop the WBC heavyweight last Sunday, but he has already signalled his intention to activate a rematch clause that would result in the pair facing off in a trilogy fight by the end of July.

Wilder is adamant he has what it takes to beat Fury, despite many believing that he should have lost the drawn first bout on top of Sunday’s rematch, but Warren believes a third encounter is not the right fight for Fury to prepare for next.

Instead, Warren would rather see the 31-year-old go after British rival Joshua in an effort to unify the division, with Joshua holding the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles, and he suggested that Fury’s camp would be happy to pay off Wilder to relinquish his rematch rights with what would have to be a large eight-figure fee.

"I prefer to go straight to Joshua, but that is the contract," Warren told BBC Radio Five Live. "It has to be honoured unless we can reach some accommodation for him to step aside. We could pay him to step aside if he wants to do that, but that is his choice.”

The rematch clause was built into the contract for the second fight in the event that Wilder suffered the first defeat of his career, which transpired in Las Vegas as Fury delivered one of the great British boxing performances. Fury knocked Wilder down twice on his way to a convincing victory, with Wilder’s co-trainer Mark Breland throwing in the towel at 1:39 of the seventh round.

Wilder has since indicated that he will sack Breland for not backing him, and Warren has also indicated that the 34-year-old Alabama native is unrelenting in his belief that he can beat Fury in a third encounter – though added that the lucrative pay day on offer from a trilogy fight would also be appealing to the dethroned former champion.

"It's a bit of both," Warren said. "It would be lucrative for him, but I have spoken to his manager and Deontay does believe he has the beating of Tyson, and he can knock him out. I don't believe that. I fancied Tyson to stop him before the fight at the weekend.

"If he insists on the fight, we're locked into it."

With terms stating that Wilder has 30 days to activate the rematch clause and a further four months to stage the fight, Warren believes that even if Fury has the face him one more time, there is still enough time left in 2020 to fight Joshua before the end of the year.

Joshua is expected to take on Kubrat Pulev on 20 June at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – a fight that is set to be announced in the coming weeks – and should both emerge triumphant, a unification bout could be set-up for later in the year, according to Warren/

"I want it before the end of the year, provided Anthony Joshua does not get defeated by anyone else," he added.