Lyndon Arthur and Luca D'Ortenzi had until noon today to come to an agreement in order to box one another for the Mancunian's European light heavyweight title.

However, the defending champion decided to vacate the belt and will doubtlessly have his eyes on a bigger fight in the 175-pound division after breathing new life into his career by edging out Bradley Rea with a 12-round majority decision win on November 1.

That update leaves official challenger D'Ortenzi to face the first available boxer from the EBU ratings. The top-five currently features four Brits including Callum Smith, who has agreed to defend his WBO interim world title against David Morrell, as well as three-time title challenger Anthony Yarde, who David Benavidez stopped in seven rounds last month.

No. 2-rated contender Willy Hutchinson will face No. 5-rated rising talent Ezra Taylor as part of Queensberry's Manchester show on January 24.

Poland's Robert Parzeczewski (35-2, 20 KOs) sits at No. 4 and has won 10 fights straight since being stopped in two rounds by Uzbek veteran Sherzod Khusanov when campaigning at super middleweight in 2020.

D'Ortenzi (20-4, 5 KOs) has been a professional since 2016. The Italian won his first eight fights before coming unstuck in his attempt to win a domestic 200-pound title, being outpointed over 10 rounds by Salvatore Erittu in July 2018.

Two fights later, he claimed the vacant domestic heavyweight title with an eighth-round stoppage win over Sergio Romano. He dropped back to cruiserweight and won regional titles before travelling to Germany, where WBO's No. 1-rated contender Roman Fress also scored a 10-round decision victory at his expense.

The 37-year-old suffered consecutive decision defeats by Leon Harth and Ellis Zorro but has won three fights since dropping to the 175-pound division.

D'Ortenzi's opponent will be announced in due course.