Joshua had been involved in negotiations to step aside and allow Fury to fight Oleksandr Usyk – but the deal collapsed and Fury will now fight Whyte

Anthony Joshua has told Dillian Whyte he is “low-key happy” for him after a deal was agreed for him to challenge world champion Tyson Fury.

Whyte and Fury will meet in April after Frank Warren won yesterday’s purse bid with a £31million offer.

Joshua had been willing to accept £15m to agree a step-aside deal from the rematch to allow Fury to face Oleksandr Usyk for all four belts.

The Briton would also have then faced the winner of the undisputed bout but Joshua will now take on Usyk for a second time in May or June.

The winners of the two fights will be expected to clash later this year for all four belts.

Anthony Joshua with Dillian Whyte ( Image: Getty Images)

And Joshua said on social media today: “Even though Dillian Whyte is an enemy of mine, I’m low key happy for him.”

Whyte, who was stopped by Joshua in 2015, had also been the next subject of the step-aside deal after being mandated to face Fury by the WBC for the heavyweight title.

It was understood a fee of £5m was acceptable to Whyte to wait for his mandatory shot but he will now fight for a world title for the first time.

That bout would crown the first undisputed heavyweight world champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999.

And it would come 12 months after Joshua and Fury were due to meet in Saudi Arabia before the deal collapsed.

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn, however, believes the two Brits will meet before they retire.

“I think the AJ Fury fight is still the fight,” Hearn said during an appearance on the DAZN Boxing Show. “I had a guy come up to me today and ask ‘when’s AJ fighting Fury’.

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“I’m kind of like ‘well that ship’s sailed a little bit, we’ve got a few things to work out still, and AJ is rematching Usyk’.

“And the guy says ‘oh is he? Well when’s the Fury fight then?’

“That’s the fight that people still want to see and will always be there. The bigger the better.

“That fight, I promise you, will happen, whether that’s late this year or early next year.

“Fury vs. AJ is a dead cert to happen because it’s too big a fight not to.”