Alexander Krassyuk, promoter for former undisputed cruiserweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk, is now taunting IBF, IBO, WBC, WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua - hoping that the British star will agree to fight his man.
Usyk is the mandatory challenger, under the WBO, to Joshua.
The two sides are negotiating a deal, potentially for a date in August - and so far the two sides have been unable to reach an agreement.
If their discussions continue to stall, then the sanctioning body will order a purse bid.
"We are waiting for King AJ's decision whether he is brave enough to get dethroned," Krassyuk said to Sky Sport.
"I have no idea at the moment [if a deal will get struck]. We are expecting his decision."
Joshua had spent months trying to finalize a unification deal with WBC world champion Tyson Fury.
Last month, Joshua's pursuit fell apart when an arbitrator ordered Fury to honor a rematch clause due to Deontay Wilder.
As BoxingScene.com previously reported, Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn has warned that a deal must get reached because their side has no intention of heading to a purse bid.
"We’ll either make a deal or we’ll vacate. I mean, we won’t be going to purse bids or anything like that, and mucking around," Hearn said.
“By the way, I don’t blame the WBO. They were actually quite generous to us with our time [that we spent to negotiate a fight with Fury]. I mean, let’s be honest – it dragged on a lot, didn’t it?
"So, I have to take my hat off to [WBO president] Paco Valcarcel, because he did put himself, his neck on the line, to allow that fight, when Usyk had a strong case for it not to be allowed. But when the time come, [Valcarcel] had to do what he had to do. So, I’m not annoyed with the WBO. I’m just annoyed that it seems that basically AJ is told who he’s got to fight every single time. But that's the problem of having three or four belts. That’s just how it is.”
