Eddie Hearn expects Anthony Joshua’s proposed fight against Alexander Povetkin to be “finalised in the next 72 hours”, but has warned that an agreement for the superfight with Deontay Wilder could still be a month away.

The promoter has also revealed that Ireland’s Katie Taylor plans to fight on the undercard of the July 28 heavyweight fight between Dillian Whyte and Joseph Parker, despite her father being shot and admitted to hospital.

Russia’s Povetkin, the mandatory challenger to Joshua’s WBA heavyweight title, is preparing for a fight in the UK in September.

Should a date be secured it will come with an agreement for WBC champion Wilder to then come to Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium in February to fight for all four heavyweight titles in what would prove the most significant match-up in the world.

Hearn remains in discussions with both camps in an unusual attempt to agree both fights, and there remains the possibility of Wilder being the first of the two opponents.

But it is increasingly likely that Povetkin will come first and that Joshua will begin his training camp before their fight is officially announced, so that both can be confirmed at the same time.

Boxing – Principality Stadium
Alexander Povetkin knocked out David Price in March (Nick Potts/PA)

“The Povetkin deal will be finalised in the next 72 hours,” Hearn said. “The Povetkin deal is virtually done. The Wilder one is not, but we’re talking every day.

“Joshua would like to fight in September. The Wilder fight doesn’t really work in September, mainly because of the Canelo (Saul Alvarez) fight. The pay-per-view doesn’t really work out.

“If he fights Wilder (first) it’ll be October, November in the UK, and if he fights Povetkin it’ll be in September. If it’s Povetkin next, the Wilder fight will definitely be signed before we go into that fight.

“Wilder understands he has to go where Joshua tells him to and at the moment Joshua’s telling him, ‘You have to come to the UK’. He knows, he’s up for that, but there’s a lot of things that have to be worked out.

“A deal will be done with Wilder in the next month, but we will probably move on a Povetkin fight before that. Wilder would be December at the earliest, probably February.”

Hearn also promotes the IBF and WBA lightweight champion Taylor, who plans to fight next month despite her family being “very distressed” at her father Pete being shot at his Bray Boxing Club in Ireland on Tuesday morning.

His reported injuries – the bullet lodged in his chest after he was shot in the arm – are not life-threatening, but Hearn said: “She has a mandatory. She’s ready to fight – she wants to fight on this card.”

The promoter also has a peripheral involvement in a proposed rematch between Gennady Golovkin and Saul Alvarez – the only in the world that could rival Joshua-Wilder for significance – because he is negotiating for his American middleweight Daniel Jacobs to instead fight Alvarez.

“They’ve made us an offer,” the 38-year-old said. “Whether it’s an offer to try and force Golovkin to take the fight I don’t know, but we’re up for that fight.

“Jacobs is either fighting Canelo or Sergey Derevyanchenko (from Ukraine, for the IBF title).”