The WBC is expected to officially mandate Tyson Fury to defend his heavyweight title against Dillian Whyte next week.
Fury retained his crown with a knockout victory over Deontay Wilder in last month's trilogy bout, which kickstarted a 30-day window for a unification bout to be agreed.
However, that was never going to be fulfilled due to Anthony Joshua's defeat to Oleksandr Usyk, with Joshua enacting his rematch clause.
It means any potential heavyweight unification bout would be delayed until later next year at the earliest, depending on the heavyweight picture.
With Joshua vs Usyk 2 going ahead, Fury's future is in the hands of the WBC and they are expected to order him to face mandatory challenger Whyte.
Whyte was due to fight Otto Wallin on October 30th at Wembley, where victory would have cemented his position as mandatory challenger, but pulled out of the bout due to a shoulder injury.
While Wallin's camp have been pushing for the fight to be rescheduled, Whyte believes his next fight should be against Fury - having waited over 600 days for his heavyweight shot.
With the WBC's 30-day window for a unification bout to be agreed passing, the governing body is now expected to issue a verdict next week where Fury's next bout should be confirmed.
Fury vs Whyte is likely to take place in spring 2022, with March likely to be the month but the bout could take place in April.
That would fit into the timeframe for a unification bout, with Joshua vs Usyk 2 taking place around the same time - with the winner then potentially facing off against Fury later in the year, if he sees off Whyte.
