According to World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman, it appears that WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) will make his next defense against Tyson Fury (26-0, 19 KOs).

"It seems that Wilder will fight Tyson Fury next," said Sulaiman to Sky Sports. "We are waiting for an official sanction request from the promoter."

The handlers for Wilder and Fury are in discussions and both sides confirm that a deal is very close and expected to be finalized in the near future.

Fury is back in action on August 18th in Belfast, when he faces world title challenger Francesco Pianeta. Wilder is expected to be at ringside for the fight.

The contest will be Fury's second since returning to the ring after a lengthy layoff. He came back to boxing in June, when he stopped overmatched Sefer Seferi in four rounds.

Prior to Seferi, Fury last fought in November of 2015 - when he shocked Wladimir Klitschko for the heavyweight crown.

The current mandatory challenger to Wilder's title is Dominic Breazeale, who would certainly be waiting in the wings should the Fury deal fall apart.

If the Fury deal comes together, the WBC could approve an exception for Wilder - or Breazeale would be given some step-aside money.

"The mandatory challenger is Dominic Breazeale," explained Sulaiman. "Last year he was contracted to fight a final elimination bout versus Bermane Stiverne.

"When Luis Ortiz could not fight Deontay Wilder, Bermane Stiverne got the fight and Breazeale was left with a contract. The replacement for Breazeale was Eric Molina.

"The condition was that if Breazeale won he would become mandatory as per the contract he had. Dillian Whyte is the WBC silver champion, but is not mandatory. The WBC offered him to fight a final elimination bout to enforce a second mandatory on the division against Luis Ortiz, but Whyte did not wish to fight such."