By Jake Donovan

Having missed out on a chance to make history on the road, Deontay Wilder gets to head home for his next fight.

The unbeaten heavyweight titlist is set to return to the ring on July 16 in Birmingham, Alabama, multiple sources have informed BoxingScene.com. The opponent will be formally announced at a press conference due to be held on June 15 at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, where the upcoming fight will air live in a primetime edition of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on free-to-air Fox TV.

Insiders with knowledge of the recent development have informed BoxingScene.com that two heavyweights remain in the running to land the assignment. There has been wide speculation that Chris Arreola will ultimately be named as the challenger of choice.

However, such a declaration cannot be made as this goes to publish since Arreola remains unranked by the World Boxing Council (WBC), whose title will be at stake. The veteran contender is expected to be reinserted into the Top 15 by the time the next ratings update later this month.

Wilder (36-0, 35KOs) will make the fourth defense of the strap he acquired last January in a 12-round decision win over Bermane Stiverne. The upcoming title fight will mark the third time he defends in Birmingham, all coming after his home state of Alabama had never previously hosted a heavyweight title fight.

The fighting pride of Tuscaloosa, Al. (roughly 45 minutes from Birmingham) was due to become the first ever U.S.-born heavyweight titlist to defend in Russia, but his scheduled May 21 trip to Moscow was rerouted when challenger Alexander Povetkin produced a positive test result for the recently banned substance Meldonium.

Whether or not that mandatory title fight is rescheduled depends upon the outcome of the ongoing investigation being conducted by the WBC. Povetkin’s side insist that – barring a suspension – the Russian heavyweight remains next in line, although World of Boxing’s Andrey Ryanbinsky has offered his blessing to grant Wilder a voluntary defense.

Interestingly, should Arreola land the assignment it will be the first fight back since his own failed drug. The Mexican-American heavyweight from California tested positive for marijuana following his 12-round draw with Travis Kauffman last December in San Antonio.

He received a 90-day suspension for the incident, but hardly considered punishment as his handlers had already lined up a planned April 30 showdown with unbeaten Dominic Breazeale, also from California. The fight ultimately fell through when Arreola suffered a freak injury at the beginning of training camp, although the postponement ultimately resulted in both heavyweights receiving title shots; Breazeale is due to face International Boxing Federation (IBF) champ Anthony Joshua in June 25 in London.

As for Arreola, he will attempt for the third time to become the first ever Mexican-American to lay claim to a heavyweight title. His previous two attempts ended in stoppage losses, as he was battered inside of 10 rounds by Vitali Klitschko in their Sept. ’09 clash for his first career loss.

Nearly five years later, he suffered his second loss in as many tries versus Bermane Stiverne. Some 13 months after dropping a landslide decision in their April ‘13 title eliminator, Arreola was stopped in the 6th round of their vacant title fight in May ’14. He has since fought three times, struggling in an eight-round decision win over Curtis Harper last April, followed by back-to-back draw verdicts against Fred Kassi and Kauffman, the latter changed to a No-Contest following his positive drug test result.

Wilder’s title winning effort over Stiverne marked the lone distance fight for the last American male boxer to have captured an Olympic medal, winning the bronze in the 2008 Beijing Games. All three title defenses have ended in knockout, stopping Eric Molina in nine rounds in front of a sold-out crowd at Bartow Arena on UAB campus in Birmingham last June, followed by an 11th round stoppage of Johan Duhaupas last September.

The latter bout also took place in Birmingham, staged at Legacy Arena where the July 16 bout will also take place. His win over Duhaupas aired live in primetime on NBC, the first heavyweight fight to be televised in such capacity since 1985.

His most recent ring appearance came this past January, scoring a 9th round knockout over Artur Szpilka in front of a capacity crowd at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Follow his shiny new Twitter account: @JakeNDaBox_v2