Last year, the World Boxing Council set down a four man tournament of eliminators to determine a new mandatory challenger to WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

In the first stage, former unified champion Andy Ruiz picked up a twelve round decision win over Luis Ortiz. And Wilder, a former WBC champion, demolished Robert Helenius in one round.

Now Ruiz and Wilder are in line to collide in a final world title eliminator.

Malik Scott, the head trainer for Wilder, says his boxer's next fight is not set in stone to be Ruiz.

However, Scott indicates that Ruiz is currently the frontrunner.

"It's down to the mystery opponent and Andy Ruiz Jr. Since AJ had made up his mind and does not want to fight Deontay right now, we're down to Andy Ruiz and the mystery guy. The mystery fighter is not as guaranteed to happen as the Ruiz fight. If you're looking at it from the business perspective, it's most likely going to be the mandatory shot, Ruiz," Scott told Best Sports Betting Canada. 

“It's looking like Ruiz, but in this game there's no telling as Deontay is big-time boxing. When you're bigtime boxing, and as sad or as unfortunate it may sound to some people, mandatories don't mean nothing. Fighters have stepped aside to make big, big fights happen. 

“This goes on in boxing, it's what the fans want or what makes business sense for the fighters and their team. It's likely to be Ruiz but if not there are other negotiations going on as well.”

Wilder's next fight is being positioned to take place on a date in March or April.

"We could be going in March or early April but it really depends. The only thing I can say at the moment is Ruiz is mandated but Deontay is big-time boxing," Scott said.

“And when you have a big-time boxer like Deontay and a mandatory going on at the same time - and there's another bigger fighter - step a side happens some time, you never know. Business is willing to be made to make bigger fights happen."