"I mean, we're virtually there to be honest with you," Matchroom Boxing chairman Eddie Hearn said.

"When you represent two guys, both guys essentially have that fight in their contract. So it's just kind of up to us to activate that with the broadcaster. On that, I'm not going to say too much, but we got massive plans with DAZN for that fight. So you're looking at the end of January, because we want the right arena and the right slot. As I said, there will be some pretty groundbreaking news for that fight. It's a huge unification fight."

Ennis (36-0, 32 KOs) is the WBA and WBO 154-pound champion, while Kelly (19-1-1, 9 KOs) holds the IBF crown.

Sebastian Fundora (24-1-1, 16 KOs), the WBC champion, owns the last remaining title in the division; The Ring title is vacant. Fundora has a fight scheduled against mandatory challenger Ermal Hadribeaj on October 17.

Should the -1800 betting favorite Fundora beat Hadribeaj as expected, "The Towering Inferno" should be going straight into an undisputed title fight against the Ennis-Kelly winner.

"We're also in talks at the moment with Luis DeCubas Jr. and PBC about the winner fighting Fundora straight off the bat," Hearn said. "We're looking to contract that almost in the same process, because that's really what both guys want.

"Boots wants to try and become undisputed as quickly as possible. Same with Kelly, who is rolling the dice in the big leagues for the big money. He feels like it's the time in his career to roll the dice like this ... There's no point hanging around. You know, roll the dice and gamble, and he'll be doing that against Boots. But you can be virtually guaranteed that you will see Boots against Kelly in a huge unification at the beginning of 2027."