Thursday 24 September 2015 19:14, UK
Promoter Eddie Hearn believes he has taken big steps towards securing a fight between Scott Quigg and Carl Frampton for early 2016.
The two super-bantamweight world champions have repeatedly failed to agree terms, but speculation about Quigg's future has intensified after he cancelled a planned title defence for November in Manchester.
Hearn has revealed that he and WBA champion Quigg have softened their stance in recent negotiations with manager Barry McGuigan and his sons, who handle the career of IBF king Frampton.
The Matchroom boss is hopeful that '60 per cent' of the stumbling blocks have been cleared with dates in January and February being considered for the world title unification fight.
I would say if we're going round a horse track, we've probably gone over 60 per cent of the hurdles.
"I had a meeting yesterday with the McGuigans and we are solving problems," Hearn told Sky Sports.
"I would say if we're going round a horse track, we've probably gone over 60 per cent of the hurdles. We're not down the home straight, but we are approaching it. There are still some big jumps on the home straight.
"The best thing is, we're solving problems and we've solved a lot of problems and we've still got more to do. There seems to be a real desire from both camps to get this made.
"We've messed around for too long. We've moved on our position, we're asking them to and they're moving on certain things and we're moving on other things.
"You just need to give a little bit to appease the other person and you might not like that sometimes, but that's just life."
A long-awaited meeting between Belfast man Frampton and Bury's Quigg would finally end any argument about which unbeaten fighter is the true No 1 on the domestic scene.
Hearn said: "When we talk about super fights for Britain, Brook-Khan, Groves-DeGale, I think this is the one that has by far the most chance of happening and sooner rather than later."
