Tyson Fury has announced he will fight Dillian Whyte next - indicating Anthony Joshua has rejected the chance to step aside.
Fury was mandated to face Whyte following his win over Deontay Wilder last October.
But purse bids have been delayed on four occasions to allow discussions over Joshua giving up his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk to allow the Ukrainian to face Fury for all four belts.
Joshua had been ready to accept £15million to do so - while Whyte was ready to bank £5m to give up his shot at Fury.
But with purse bids now due tomorrow, Fury has indicated he will fight Whyte, suggesting Joshua has had a change of heart.
"I can't wait to punch Dillian Whyte's face right in," Fury said in a video posted to social media. "I'm going to give him the best hiding he's ever had in his life. Train hard sucker because you're getting annihilated, bum."
Yesterday's purse bids for Fury's clash with Whyte were postponed two hours before they were due to go ahead.
But Fury later claimed that Joshua and promoter Eddie Hearn had "lost $90million" in a day, hinting that Joshua had rejected the step-aside offer and a guaranteed shot at the undisputed champion.
Whyte remains unhappy with the WBC's ruling that he will earn 20 per cent of the winning purse bid.
But both teams have another day to strike a deal before blind bids are entered and the highest offer wins the right to stage the fight.
Fury's announcement means Joshua will return to the negotiating table with Usyk with their second instalment likely to take place in April.
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Wembley Stadium and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - the stage for their first fight - are the two venues in the running.
Fury's second defence of his title against Whyte, meanwhile, could take place at either the Manchester Arena or the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
The champion's promoter Frank Warren had insisted his charge would fight on March 26 but Fury's defence against Whyte could also now be pushed into April.
The winners of the two fights would be expected to meet later this year to crown the first undisputed heavyweight world champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
