Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, who is promotional partners with Frank Warren on WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, has backed Warren's position that there have been no negotiations with Anthony Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn.

Hearn stated in several interviews that there have been several positive discussions with Arum, regarding a year-end showdown between Joshua and Fury.

Joshua is scheduled to make a mandatory defense of the IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO titles against Kubrat Pulev on June 20. And Fury is already lined up for a trilogy fight with Deontay Wilder, likely on July 18.

Arum, who also promotes Pulev, made it clear that a year-end unification will never happen - because Pulev is going to knock Joshua out.

Arum believes Pulev is a far better fighter than Andy Ruiz, who stopped Joshua in seven rounds in June 2019. Joshua got revenge in December, when he outboxed Ruiz in their rematch - but Ruiz did himself no favors by coming in overweight due to a lackluster training camp.

"Fury-Joshua is never going to happen," Arum told The Times.

"Pulev is going to knock Joshua out so why would I talk to Eddie [his promoter], who I love dearly, about a Joshua-Fury fight? I think Pulev wins and then I negotiate with myself to do a Pulev-Fury fight. Let’s make this crystal clear, I am co-promoter of Tyson and the other co-promoter is Frank Warren. I would not talk to Eddie about a fight without Frank’s participation. Frank’s never even talked with Eddie.

"Joshua was the man on top and then he got knocked out by Andy Ruiz who fought almost all his fights with us, so we know how good and not so good he is. The fact Joshua got knocked out should have sounded alarm bells. The fight he had to regain his belts I discount completely because Andy could not control himself, didn’t train for the fight and came in obese. Even then Joshua did not engage with him, he outboxed him. Pulev is yards and yards better than Andy Ruiz."