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The mega-fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua is on the brink of being called off, with alternative opponents for both Britain's world heavyweight champions already on stand-by.
Fury's US promoter Bob Arum said on Thursday night: 'We keep passing deadlines for Eddie Hearn to deliver the deal he keeps talking about and we are out of time. Once again he is saying next week but next week never comes.'
Legal arbitration about Deontay Wilder's right to a trilogy fight with Fury, who sensationally knocked him out to gain the WBC world title, have been delayed even longer than the Joshua contract but have been accelerated this week in New York.
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Wilder is back in training and Arum added: 'Fury-Joshua looks dead in the water. Tyson has been out of action for too long and has to fight this summer. Who else is he going to fight other than Wilder? A third fight between them is huge in its own right.'
Oleksandr Usyk, the former undisputed world cruiserweight champion, is also back at work in the gym as the mandatory challenger for one of Joshua's collection of belts and is ready to step in against AJ.
Hearn is still insisting that a $150million (£108m) deal for a mid-summer battle between Joshua and the Gypsy KIng remains in the Saudi Arabia pipe-line for this summer, saying: 'It is definitely, 100 per cent, going to happen.'
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Arum retorts: 'Eddie only has one fight left with his Joshua contract and he is desperate for it be this big one. Usyk is a a good fight but not as huge as Tyson and AJ. But it doesn't look possible now before next year or even the year after. Like Tyson, Joshua needs to fight soon.'
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Hearn protests that he has been carrying the work-load of finding a country willing to pay a site fee massive enough to meet both boxers' expectations of one hundred million dollar purses.
Under Arum's TV contract with ESPN. the US Disney-owned giant, Fury can still expect a hefty pay-night in America against Wilder, with help from BT.
Unless the biggest Brit battle ever can be saved - and next - Sky will have to rejoin the bid for UK rights to what might yet end up as a Wembley blockbuster.
If so, that will delight British fans, even though there will be massive disappointment at another delay. Even more so if Joshua v Fury never happens.
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