According to promoter Eddie Hearn, both Joshua and Klitschko have asked WBA President Gilberto Mendoza to present their case to the WBA sanctioning board in a bid to make their contest a unification.
Joshua currently holds the IBF version, although Klitschko is determined to reclaim his old and currently vacant WBA belt but Hearn is worried a negative decision by Mendoza and his team could mean a delay until next year.
“The deal is there but we are awaiting sanctioning from the WBA,” Hearn exclusively told Sky Sports.
“Both teams have written to the WBA to request sanctioning of our fight, but Wladimir wants the WBA belt to be on the line so until that is approved we cannot move forward.”
Hearn confirmed that due to the timescale involved, Joshua and Klitschko both have to put back-up plans in place just in case finalization of the pay-per-view bout cannot be made by this weekend.
“We expect news in the next few days, but in the mean time I believe both sides will look at alternative options for December 10 while we hope to get the news we need to make the fight happen,” he said.
Any Klitschko collapse could be good news for the likes of David Price, Eric Molina or Dereck Chisora, all of whom are ranked highly enough to be considered by Joshua as a replacement for Manchester Arena.
