By Jake Donovan

Wladimir Klitschko’s long-awaited return to a boxing ring in the United States just might come with a longer wait than anticipated.

The reigning heavyweight king is deep into negotiations for an April 25 title defense versus unbeaten contender Bryant Jennings. The fight is targeted for Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, which would mark Klitschko’s first fight in the U.S. since a 12-round decision over Sultan Ibragimov in their Feb. ’08 heavyweight title unification bout at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York City.

However, terms were forced to come to a standstill due to Gary Shaw Productions—who promotes Jennings—joining forces with boxing new kid on the block, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports. The merger was finalized on January 8, one day prior to Roc Nation Sports’ boxing promotional debut. However, talks for the pending heavyweight clash have yet to pick back up, instead potentially hitting a wall over a difference of opinion on previously agreed-upon terms.

Representatives from Roc Nation Sports and K2 Promotions declined comment and neither confirmed nor denied current negotiation status. What can be confirmed is that Klitschko’s side has already sought a contingency plan, one that would call for his return to his native Ukraine for the first time in more than 16 years.

With a notable opponent to face in the states—one that would be approved by cable network giant HBO, which will televise his next title defense—Klitschko and his team are exploring the possibility of moving the fight date to May 30 in Kiev, Ukraine.

The homecoming would take place at Olympic National Sports Complex, a 70,000-seat stadium (for football capacity, and thus allowing for more space for a boxing event) in the capital city.

“We want to determine the opponent in the next two weeks and hope to keep the old date and place of the battle, but we'll see,” Bernd Bönte, Klitschko’s manager recently told Ukrainian publication Sport.ua. “If it does not, then perhaps we will move the battle to Europe or move it to a later date, [which can change everything].”

A fight in Ukraine would be significant for a number of reasons. Klitschko (63-3, 53KOs) has only fought in his nation of birth just once through 18-plus years as a pro—and at the time it proved to be the worst moment of his young career.

The night ended in his first defeat, an 11th round stoppage to American journeyman Ross Purrity. Klitschko was well ahead throughout the fight, but punched himself into exhaustion—admittedly due to an overwhelming desire to please his hometown fans—as he hit a wall late in the 10th round.

It marked the last time that Wladimir and older brother Vitali Klitschko appeared on the same card, and the only time either fought at home. Vitali sought to have the final fight of his memorable career in Ukraine, but was forced to move off of the idea and ultimately announced his retirement, though well after the final fight of his career, a 4th round injury stoppage of Manuel Charr in Sept. ’12.

Rather than fighting in Kiev, the elder Klitschko now fights for the city, having been elected its Mayor in the 2014 elections. The win was a consolation prize for his previous plans to run for president of Ukraine in the 2015 elections, before pulling out of the race.

A May 30 homecoming for Wladimir Klitschko would also coincide with the one-year anniversary of Vitali’s being elected into office.

Klitschko last defended his World championship in November, scoring a sensational 5th round knockout of previously unbeaten top contender Kubrat Pulev. The win marked the 10th defense of his lineal championship, and 17th consecutive defense of at least one alphabet title since reclaiming a belt following his stoppage win over Chris Byrd in their April ’06 rematch in Germany, where the majority of his historic career has taken place. 

Jennings (19-0, 10KOs) hasn’t fought since a 12-round points win over Mike Perez in their title eliminator last July, which took place on a show at Madison Square Garden co-promoted by K2 Promotions and Gary Shaw Productions. The eliminator was to determine the mandatory challenger for the winner between the upcoming showdown between defending titlist Bermane Stiverne and unbeaten contender Deontay Wilder.

Stiverne holds the World Boxing Council (WBC) title, while Klitschko owns every other piece of significant hardware in the heavyweight division.

While whispers suggest that Roc Nation Sports is attempting to play hardball in talks that were thought to have already been wrapped up, the other line of thinking is Jennings’ side taking a wait and see approach to the aforementioned title fight, which takes place this weekend in Las Vegas.

Should talks with Klitschko fall through for whatever reason, Jennings still has a WBC mandatory title fight in his back pocket.

It’s not as neatly wrapped for Klitschko, who would have to get approval from the sanctioning bodies—namely the World Boxing Organization (WBO)—for a voluntary defense to take place on a modified date. The current plan in place has the WBO giving its blessing for Klitschko to defend against Jennings on April 25 in Brooklyn, after which he would have 30 days to negotiate terms for a showdown with unbeaten mandatory challenger Tyson Fury.

Any movement off of that date would likely complicate matters, as Fury and co-promoter Frank Warren are chomping at the bit for a shot at the title. Fury is due to return to the ring on February 28 in London, facing Christian Hammer in a stay-busy affair.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox