Anthony Joshua has been given a 24-hour deadline to sign a deal to fight Russian Alexander Povetkin or face being stripped of his WBA world heavyweight title.
The British star's promoter Eddie Hearn has been negotiating for a unification bout with Deontay Wilder but the WBA has lost patience and want him to fight its own mandatory challenger Povetkin.
Joshua holds three of the four major world belts: the IBF, WBA (Super) and WBO titles while Wilder is the WBC heavyweight titleholder.
WBA president Gilberto Mendoza had granted Joshua an extra month to continue talks for a fight with Wilder, but with a deal yet to be agreed, he has called on Joshua to finalise a bout with Povetkin.
"Today the WBA requested an answer from Anthony Joshua's team regarding his fight with the mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin," Mendoza said in a statement.
"The WBA have allowed over a month extension to negotiations with Povetkin and also ongoing discussions with Deontay Wilder.
"It appears the Wilder team have not returned the contract for the fight and therefore we are requesting a date for the Joshua versus Povetkin fight with immediate effect."
The 28-year-old Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs) won a world title in 2016 and has made five defences.
That includes a 10th-round knockout of former longtime unified world champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2017 and unifying three belts by outpointing New Zealander Joseph Parker in March.
The 32-year-old American Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) won his belt in 2015 and has made seven title defences.
Hearn's last public offer to Wilder was a flat fee of $US15 million if the bout was held in the United Kingdom.
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