Wilder was due to open talks with Povetkin to seal the encounter by January 2016 but the number one contender’s camp asked for more time to prepare for their biggest challenge since Wladimir Klitschko.
Even with Povetkin turning up at ringside for Wilder’s latest knockout victory over Artur Szplika, Deas was still not 100% certain that ‘The Bronze Bomber’ would be sharing the ring with the ex-Olympic champion in his next outing.
“I’m not sure what will come but we will know something soon,” Deas exclusively told World Boxing News.
“We thought we were fighting Povetkin for this fight we just did, but his people asked for more time to prepare. It was them, not us.
“We moved on to Glazkov, but he opted to go for the vacant title versus Martin, so we went with Szpilka who is a smart tricky southpaw who has a great trainer in my friend Ronnie Shields and we knew he would be ready.
“What’s next? Well, If we can work it out with Povetkin we will be ready as we were before. If it’s Martin himself, we welcome the opportunity to unify two of the titles,” he added.
Wilder would be allowed to take on IBF champion Martin under the WBC rules as a unification holds more power than a mandated bout. Saying that, the WBC have ordered two separate deadlines for Wilder v Povetkin and may want to save face by making sure the bout happens next.
WBN recently asked Mauricio Sulaiman his stance on Wilder taking Martin over Povetkin, although the possibility was never ruled out despite the WBC President being unwilling to comment on speculation about a two-belt battle.
