Tyson Fury turned down the chance to fight Oscar Rivas.
The unbeaten Colombian has now agreed to come to the O2 Arena to take on British contender Dillian Whyte on July 20.
Rivas (26-0) came face to face with Whyte for the first time at a press conference on Monday - but his promoter Yvon Michel, revealed he could have faced a very different task.
The 31-year-old was in talks to take on Fury in his first fight since signing a big money deal with ESPN only for the Gypsy King to turn the fight down citing the desire to take on a taller opponent.
He is now set to take on unknown German heavyweight Tom Schwarz (24-0), who stands five inches taller than Rivas at 6ft 6, in Las Vegas on June 15.
Boxing news: Wladimir Klitschko drops clear comeback hint with Anthony Joshua message
"Right after, especially when ESPN signed Tyson Fury , we were told he might have had the task to be the opponent of Tyson Fury.
"Then we learned that Fury didn't want to fight Oscar because of styles.
"He said it was not good for him because he wanted to get ready for a taller opponent.
"We were working on having another stay-busy fight, and we were offered Michael Hunter, Andy Ruiz Jr, Joe Parker, and we said yes to all offers we got.
Boxing news: Dillian Whyte makes world title admission as he vows to KO Oscar Rivas
"Finally, we learnt they were turned down by the opponents and we got the call (to face Whyte)."
Fury has come in for plenty of criticism for his decision to take on Schwarz in his first fight since a dramatic draw against Deontay Wilder last December.
He was slammed by Barry Hearn at the same press conference, with the experienced promoter stating: “Tyson Fury is the best gypsy boxer in the world, isn’t he? The king of the gypsys who’ll fight any man whatsoever?
Boxing news: Joe Joyce predicts how Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury would unfold
“Ah, his next opponent’s ranked number 93 with BoxRec.
“Congratulations, make of it what you want, but let’s have no bulls***, shall we?"
