The boxing world has been licking its fingers over the past 48 hours. Whilst Anthony Joshua’s future in boxing still looked a little bleak over the weekend, he now has the opportunity to fight Tyson Fury in London in December.

So what happened?

On Saturday, Fury said he would announce his next opponent next week - but confirmed it will not be Usyk.

Uysk said on Friday of a fight with Fury: "It won't happen this year, that's for sure. I'm totally healthy and don't have any injuries, but I have old traumas which have resurfaced, and which need to be treated. I will need up to two months to recuperate."

Fury had said he was retiring after beating Dillian Whyte in April, and also reiterated that claim just last month.

It now appears that that’s not the case. Perhaps frustrated with being snubbed by Usyk for now and bored of his “retirement”, WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has offered Anthony Joshua the chance to fight for his belt before the end of this year: "Anthony Joshua, I know you've just lost a fight to Usyk, and I know you're belt-less at the moment, and I'd like to give you an opportunity to fight me for the WBC heavyweight championship of the world and the lineal championship in the next few months."

Whilst a great opportunity for Joshua, the offer came with a twist. Whilst it’s mostly common practice that boxers share the so-called 'purse' – the money the fighters will collect at the end of the fight – Fury offered Joshua 60 – 40 split meaning that Joshua would take home 10 percent less than his opponent. The opportunity would need to come at some cost, right?

Fury even insisted on a rematch clause with the purse for the second fight being split down the middle, but Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn wants the winner of the sequel to be given 60 percent of the pot.

Fury took to social media to say: "AJ, I've not heard from you at all. You've never said you want this fight or you don't. I'm going to do a video every hour of the day until you agree, so let us know."

Whilst Joshua in principle agreed to the fight and the split, the fighter did request a different date in December than Fury promoted. Fury has subsequently disagreed with this and to add more pressure onto Joshua, he has given the fighter an ultimatum until the end of the day to accept.

He said: "Just to clarify, there has never been a December 17 date. There has only ever been November 26 at Wembley or December 3 at Cardiff, there never has been a date on December 17. This is it AJ, Eddie, don't get scared now; agree to the fight and let's give the fans what they want. I've given you an unbelievable deal and an unbelievable opportunity, so let's go."

We’ll know more soon...