It appears the slim chances of Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury's planned 2021 fight unifying all five major titles and providing an undisputed heavyweight champion for the first time in 20 years may get a lifeline.
Fury holds the WBC and The Ring (lineal) titles while Joshua brings the WBA, IBF and WBO belts to the table for what would deliver one decisive king of the maximum weight class. However keeping all four 'alphabet' bodies happy at the same time is no easy feat, and the politics of the sport have often scuppered unification bouts.
But in a development revealed by Oleksandr Usyk's promoter Alexander Krassyuk on Wednesday, a solution may be on the way with regards to the immediate threat to an undisputed title fight.
The WBO have previously warned that Joshua has received plenty of leeway already, after rematching Andy Ruiz Jr. to regain the titles and defending against IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev while their mandatory, Usyk, has played the waiting game.
Usyk has the power to demand his mandatory title shot next, potentially forcing the belt away from Joshua vs. Fury. But Krassyuk says people have been in touch to work something out.
"I received the call from George Warren [the son of Joyce's promoter Frank Warren] with the offer to promote Usyk vs Joyce for the interim WBO heavyweight championship this spring," he told Sky Sports.
"We also received the letter from WBO saying that they are considering granting sanction for AJ vs Fury.
"But Usyk has never received any serious offer nor anyone approached him with the offer to 'step aside'. We all read it from media.
"I know that the WBO in general and its president Paco Valcarcel in particular will never violate the rules of its organisation and sanction the major fight without Usyk's consent.
"So now is the best time for the AJ vs Fury fight promoters to make Usyk a serious offer either to fight the WBO champion or to step aside and fight for the interim."
Eddie Hearn, who promotes Joshua, had previously said he liked the idea of Usyk and Joyce fighting for the interim title, which could then either guarantee the winner a shot at the Joshua-Fury victor or be elevated to a full title after someone had been recognised as undisputed champ.
Both Usyk and Joyce are unbeaten at professional level, with the Ukrainian most recently decisioning Dereck Chisora on Halloween night in the former undisputed cruiserweight kingpin's biggest heavyweight test to date, while Joyce impressed many by putting the first mark against Daniel Dubois' record on Nov. 28 via 10th-round KO.