Matchroom's Eddie Hearn believes Anthony Joshua will face Oleksandr Usyk next instead of taking an interim fight.
The unified world heavyweight championship rematch has been in limbo following Usyk's decision to return to Ukraine and defend the country from its invasion by Russia.
However, there now seems to be ongoing discussions between Usyk's team and the Ukrainian government about allowing Usyk to leave the country and defend his WBA, WBO and IBF titles.
"I think that’s the most likely scenario," Eddie Hearn told The DAZN Boxing Show when asked about whether Joshua will face Usyk next.
"We had those conversations about a week ago and I had my doubts as to whether Usyk would be ready, but I believe now that there’s been some kind of conversations with Usyk and even Lomachenko as well with the government to say ‘look, how do we sit in terms of competing in major sporting events.’
"I don’t think Usyk’s going to want to wait, once you start waiting anything can happen so we actually had some talks this morning."
The promoter then went onto reveal if the fight was to take place, it would be set for this Summer, but Hearn also wouldn't dismiss the possibility of Joshua having an 'interim' fight if Usyk is unable to have sufficient preparation time for the rematch.
"I do think Usyk will take that fight next, we’re looking at the end of June for that fight and that’s when the fight has got to take place by," Hearn said.
"If he’s not ready, we’ll push for an interim fight, but my gut feeling right now, and this could change is that you will be seeing Anthony Joshua v Oleksandr Usyk for the unified world heavyweight championship next."
Check out Hearn's full interview, in which he discusses the possibility of more boxing/MMA crossovers after attending UFC London plus much more, on the Mar. 21 edition of The DAZN Boxing Show now, with a DAZN subscription.