A December 3 superfight between WBC Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury and former champ Anthony Joshua moved a step closer after AJ's team "accepted all terms" demanded by the Gypsy King.
Joshua's management team 258 and promoters Matchroom confirmed on Tuesday that "we accepted all terms presented to us by Fury's team for a fight December 3, last Friday.
"Due to the Queen's passing, it was agreed to halt all communication. We are awaiting a response."
Frank Warren, Fury's promoter, swiftly tweeted his reply.
"Contract will be with you very soon."
An all-British heavyweight clash between Morecambe-based Fury and the Londoner has been talked about for several years but has never happened.
The two men signed to fight each other in an undisputed heavyweight championship bout in 2021 in Saudi Arabia, at a time when Joshua held the WBA, IBF and WBO titles.
But WBC champ Fury was instead forced into fighting Deontay Wilder after the American won a legal battle for a third bout with Tyson - a fight Fury subsequently won in October 2021 by 11th round knockout.
In the meantime, Joshua lost his titles to Oleksandr Usyk and after 'AJ' was defeated by the Ukrainian in a rematch in August 2022, a Fury-Joshua fight seemed further away than ever before - especially as Tyson had announced his retirement.
But then Fury, 34, said he would be making a comeback to the ring, and earlier this month used his social media to challenge Joshua to a bout.
This came after Usyk said he would not be ready to fight Fury for the undisputed title by the end of the year.
Former Olympic champion Joshua, 32, tweeted his response, saying: "I'll be ready in December."
Since then, Joshua and his team agreed to a 60-40% purse split for the fight, in the WBC Champion's favour.
But the date of the fight then presented a stumbling block, with AJ wanting it to be on December 17 to give himself more time to prepare having only fought a few weeks ago.
Fury was adamant that the battle of Britain would have to take place on either November 12 at Old Trafford in Manchester, November 26 at Wembley, or December 3 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
He and his team also wanted a rematch clause with a 50-50 monetary split for a second fight, should it be required.
Tuesday's developments would indicate that Joshua and his team have agreed to the December 3 date at the national stadium in Wales, and the rematch purse split.
The only possible remaining issue is that the two fighters have agreements with different broadcast networks; Fury with BT Sport and Joshua with the DAZN streaming service.
However, both parties have previously said this would not be a problem and that a joint pay-per-view could be agreed.
Fury has been WBC Heavyweight champion since he stopped Wilder in the seventh round in February 2020 in Las Vegas. He was previously also The Ring magazine champion, but vacated the belt in August. Tyson is also the lineal heavyweight champion of the world, having beaten Wladimir Klitschko for this honour in 2015. His professional boxing record stands at 32 wins, 1 draw and 0 defeats.
Joshua is a former two-time unified heavyweight champion, with a record of 24 wins and 3 defeats in his professional career. He won the Olympic super heavyweight boxing gold medal in London in 2012.
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