IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. (22-0, 19 KOs) will not back away from a "dream fight" unification against WBA, WBC champion Keith Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs).
Both fighters had very big wins in 2017.
Back in March, Thurman won a twelve round decision over unbeaten Danny Garcia to unify the WBC, WBA belts. For Spence, he traveled over to Sheffield in late May to stop Kell Brook in eleven rounds to capture the IBF belt.
Spence is expected to make a voluntary defense on a date in October or November.
Thurman suffered an elbow injury in the fight with Garcia and had to undergo surgery. He's going to be out of the ring until the end of the year and expected back in the first quarter of 2018.
Spence is going to stay busy and focus on all of the big names at 1247-pounds - including newly crowned WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn, who last month upset Manny Pacquiao to capture the title.
"I'm definitely chasing world title fights," Spence told Sky Sports. "Keith Thurman has two of them. Jeff Horn has another one. We'll see what the future holds.
"Right now I'm trying to get a fight in before Keith Thurman, because he's supposed to be injured right now. He won't come back until early 2018 and I'm not going to wait that long. Hopefully I can fight before the year is over with and then fight him later next year."
"[Thurman is] a fight I've been wanting for a long time. Even when I was 15 and 0, I was asking for that fight. It's a fight I've wanted for a long time and that's my dream fight right now."
Spence will eventually have to make his mandatory defense, as the IBF recently ordered a final eliminator between Konstantin Ponomarev and Carlos Ocampo. While that situation sorts itself out, Spence will hang back and make a voluntary defense in the meantime.
"I heard two people are fighting each other either in October, November, for my mandatory spot, so I don't have a mandatory yet. I guess I'll make a voluntary," Spence said.