Boxing's heavyweight division is set for it's biggest year in a long time in 2018.

With Tyson Fury returning to the fold, the likes of Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker will likely take part in a number of huge bouts.

Also, the winner of Tony Bellew v David Haye, which takes place on May 5, could be thrown in to the mix.

Fury's return has been the biggest instigator in all of this, with the Gypsy King determined to come back and win back his throne.

He hasn't fought in over two years, with his last bout coming against Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf, a fight he won comfortably.

A lot of the talk about his return has been focused on a potential super-fight between him and Joshua, with Eddie Hearn stating that he intends to hold talks.

And, AJ's promoter has now revealed the outcome of the first discussion between the two parties and safe to say, it didn't go particularly well.

“The only way Fury is going to get the Joshua fight is with us,” said Hearn to the Independent.

“So I've been talking to Fury about a plan which would lead to the Joshua fight.

“I said to him 'we can't talk about the Joshua fight now, because you can't expect to have a conversation about it when you haven't boxed for two years.' He might come back and stink the place out and have small value in the fight.

“He came back to me and said 'right, I'll make it really easy for you and give you a deal that you will accept straight away'. Then he said: 'I want a 60/40 split and all the champion's benefits. I want to walk second, it's my name on the poster and I want choice of changing rooms'.

“It made me laugh, I said 'that's great, yeah, good joke'. But he was deadly serious. He says Joshua is only where he is because of him. Then I realised he was actually serious with those terms.”

Sadly, it is beginning to look less and less likely that they will meet in the ring in the foreseeable future.

For now, it looks like AJ will have to make do with a fight against Parker, while Fury is expected to fight at least three times in 2018 in order to rebuild his fitness.