World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman has vowed to do whatever was possible to ensure his WBC heavyweight champion, Deontay Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs), would get the opportunity to unify with WBA, IBF, IBO world champion Anthony Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs).
Both of them are scheduled to make defenses in the fall.
Joshua is likely back on October 28, in a mandatory defense against the IBF's top challenger Kubrat Pulev of Bulgaria. If he wins that contest, he would have to face the WBA's top man Luis Ortiz - unless the Cuban punches reaches a deal to fight Wilder in November.
Should the two of them continue to win, the stage would be set for a unification encounter in 2018.
Both boxers are showcased on Showtime, so there won't be any network issues in getting the deal done.
One issue that always comes up - mandatory defenses. But Sulaiman is willing to place any mandatory defense on hold, at least for Wilder, to ensure he's able to reach a deal for a Joshua fight.
"We will do whatever is possible and necessary to make it happen," Sulaiman exclusively told Sky Sports.
"That's the fight everybody wants to see. Joshua is a tremendous attraction and a positive role model, and Wilder is the same. Two undefeated champions should meet in the ring as soon as possible. Both have commitments to finish, so next year is the time to meet."
Joshua became the top man at the weight back in April, when he unified his three world titles with a stoppage win over former division ruler Wladimir Klitschko before a record crowd of 90,000 at Wembley in London. There was a rematch clause and months of speculation that a second fight would go down in the fall, but all of that was cast aside when Klitschko announced his retirement from the ring.