Tyson Fury is in talks to take on WBO interim champion Zhilei Zhang in his next title defence.
Fury had been expected to fight Oleksandr Usyk as the two heavyweight champions both appeared keen to become undisputed.
However negotiations collapsed, with neither side accepting the blame, and Osyk looks set to go through his own mandatory challengers.
That might eventually have come up against WBO interim champion Zhang, but he is likely to have to wait for the IBF and WBA to give their men their chance first.
The WBA have ordered Usyk to come up against their mandatory, Daniel Dubois, who had lost to Joe Joyce in his only defeat.
As a result, Joyce had been mentioned as a match-up for WBC champion Fury, but the Briton lost his interim belt to Zhang last month in a surprise upset.
Now talks have begun between Zhang and Fury's camp, according to Sky Sports.
A WBC mandatory has yet to be ordered for Fury after he took on and defeated Dillian Whyte last summer, and he followed that up with a routine victory against Derek Chisory in December, winning comfortably.