By Luke Furman
The head of the World Boxing Council (WBC), Mauricio Sulaiman, would love to see WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs) collide with Olympic gold medal winner Alexander Povetkin (33-1, 23 KOs).
The two were scheduled to fight back in May 2016, in Povetkin's backyard of Russia.
A few weeks before the fight was scheduled to go through, it was revealed that Povetkin had failed a drug test when traces of meldonium was discovered in his system.
The WBC investigated the situation and eventually cleared Povetkin.
Meldonium had become banned earlier that year, and Povetkin had claimed that he used the substance while it was legal in 2015.
But then Povetkin tested positive for a different banned substance in the fall of 2016, which led to a canceled fight with Bermane Stiverne.
Once again the WBC had a long investigation and Povetkin was issued a small suspension and had to pay a hefty fine to the sanctioning body.
Now Povetkin is back in the rankings and appears to be close to a deal to fight Olympic bronze medal winner David Price on March 31, as part of the Anthony Joshua vs. Joseph Parker undercard.
Povetkin is in line for a crack at the Joshua-Parker winner - but if something goes wrong and the Russian boxer is unable to secure the winner - then Sulaiman would love to see him fight Wilder - if the WBC champion can beat Luis Ortiz on March 3rd in Brooklyn.
"[Wilder vs. Povetkin] would be a great fight. Everyone expected it two years ago, so everything is possible. I would definitely like to see it," Sulaiman said to Nikolai Ryazantsev.
Another fight Sulaiman can't wait to see, is the Joshua-Parker unification showdown - which is going have the WBA, IBO, IBF, WBO world titles at stake.
"We always support the unification of belts, Joshua has more power and experience, Parker has a big heart and big dreams. It will be an excellent fight," Sulaiman said.
Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.