The fighters want it, as do their promoters, managers, and legion of middlemen and go-betweens.

Now all that is left, apparently, is for the entity that is in charge of cutting the checks to make it all happen.

According to promoter Eddie Hearn, the much-discussed and tantalizing heavyweight bout between his charge, London’s Anthony Joshua, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s Deontay Wilder, can only fail to happen at this point if the host, Skills Challenge, a well-strapped boxing outfit from Saudi Arabia, fails to do their part.

Hearn said in a recent interview that both sides were completely sold on the idea of a Joshua-Wilder showdown to take place in Saudi Arabia early next year, possibly in the second half of January. Joshua indicated clearly after his brutal seventh-round knockout of Robert Helenius last weekend that he is targeting Wilder for his next fight.

“I’m not being funny,” Hearn told FightHubTV. “I’ve been to Saudi Arabia twice to negotiate this fight. I’ve had two meetings, three meetings in London. I’m not doing it for banter. My instructions from Anthony Joshua [are] ‘I want to fight Deontay Wilder.’ The only way this fight doesn’t happen is if Saudi doesn’t deliver the fight.

“[Wilder manager] Shelly Finkel, Wilder, as far as I’m hearing from them directly, they are in. We are in. We just need to sign a contract and go through the procedures to get that done.”

If the fight fails to materialize, Hearn said Joshua would probably return to the ring in December. Hearn says he expects a finalization in “two or three weeks,” after which, if there is no progress, he will look to plan Joshua’s next fight.

“If it doesn’t happen, I think he’ll (Joshua) fight in December,” Hearn said. “But I’m not spinning that fight. All of our efforts have been for that fight. Honestly I wouldn’t waste my time flying all around the world trying to pretend that that’s the fight we want. That is the fight we want. It’s a massive fight, massive money, and that is what I have been instructed to deliver for AJ.”

“We are positive,” Hearn added. “Like I said, we are in. If it can be delivered, we are in.”