The blockbuster heavyweight clash between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua could still be held at Wembley Stadium, but only if local authorities agree to stage the fight at a later time than usual.
Turki Alalshikh, who is organising the all-British bout, said on Monday that he wants the fight to take place at a time that works for a global audience, and intends to hold talks with the Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, in a bid to obtain permission to host a late-night fight in the capital.
In response, the Mayor of London said he "supported ambitions" to bring the fight to the UK capital and believes the city is the best place for it to be held.
Your Site News understands Joshua's preference is for the fight to take place in the UK. But ultimately, Joshua just wants the fight against Fury.
Given main events at UK bouts tend to start somewhere between 10pm and 11pm, Alalshikh would appear to be suggesting the much-anticipated matchup would start after midnight.
Speaking at an event in London, Alalshikh said: "I tell you from the beginning, it depends if England give us all that we need, we want the fight here in England.
"But we want the time zone of all the world, especially in America. If they allowed us to have Wembley late in the night, we want to do it in England. It is about the time and viewership.
"We will talk with the mayors and Prince Abdullah (bin Khaled bin Sultan)."
Khan did not comment on whether the fight could be moved to later in the evening to accommodate an international audience.
"London is the sporting capital of the world, and the Mayor is working to bring more of the world's biggest events to the city," a spokesperson for the Mayor of London said on Tuesday.
"London has staged some of the biggest boxing events in recent history at Wembley Stadium, with record crowds of over 90,000 attending heavyweight contests including Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois and Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte.
"Sadiq has made clear that London would be the perfect place to stage the long-awaited bout between Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury and the Mayor stands ready to support ambitions to bring the event to our capital as we build a better London for everyone."
But after the statement had been published, Alalshikh took to social media to write: "Hopefully a positive statement from the Mayor of London's office about a later start time if Fury v Joshua is in London, as so far we have been told it is not possible."
Both of the former world champions are competing in warm-up fights later in July, with a surprise defeat or injury for either appearing to be the only potential obstacles to their meeting going ahead, most likely in November.
Fury faces Mariusz Wach in Thailand on July 24, while Joshua is taking on Kristian Prenga a day later in Saudi Arabia.
