Dave Toussaint's camp has tabled an offer to fight Anthony Mundine and Jeff Horn's promoter is fuelling the fire for the Australian middleweight boxing showdown.
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Toussaint's promoter Nick Boutzos is working to secure a landmark bout to pit the unbeaten hometown hero (13-0) against one of Australia's greatest (48-8) in Canberra.
Mundine insists he is next in line to face Horn after his World Boxing Organisation welterweight title defence against Terence Crawford in Las Vegas on June 9.
Duco Events promoter Dean Lonergan - the man behind Horn - has put a line through Mundine's name and says "The Man" is "just using the Horn stuff as an excuse to run away from David".
"My matchmaker played a round of golf with Mundine," Boutzos said.
"His comments directly to us where he is not going to entertain a fight with David as he has got a fight lined up with Jeff Horn after Horn’s bout in June against Terence Crawford.
"We believe that not to be true after speaking with Duco Events, because I closely work with them. This is the fight for Anthony, there is an offer on the table to fight in Canberra in front of our hometown."
He says Mundine "is kidding himself" if he thinks he will get the next crack at Horn with Lonergan eyeing "real fighters" like Shawn Porter, Keith Thurman, Lucas Matthysse, Amir Khan, Jessie Vargas, and Adrien Broner, or potential rematches with Crawford or Manny Pacquaio.
"Mundine is just using the Horn stuff as an excuse to run away from David, because he knows David Toussaint will knock him clean out," Lonergan said.
"If he thinks he is going to make millions of dollars fighting Jeff Horn, he ain’t, because he’s not fighting him. I’m looking at the welterweight division at the moment and it is really starting to heat up. Why would we want to take a backward step like Mundine who has shot past and offers us nothing?
"Anthony Mundine should start speaking to Nick Boutzos sooner rather than later, because Nick is an extremely good promoter who works a long way ahead of time.
"If he doesn’t, Mundine will find that his last payday in David Toussaint has disappeared."
While Toussaint's potential bout with Mundine is gathering steam, Canberra mixed martial artist Ben Edwards is determined to fight his way into the UFC "the old-fashioned way".
Edwards did not make it through the open tryouts of The Ultimate Fighter 28 in Las Vegas this week after being matched up with a 144 kilogram wrestler for a grappling session and not getting the chance to do any striking.
The 34-year-old says he held his own and was confident he would be able to force his way into the house when the strikers were given a shot - only that chance never came and he was judged solely on grappling.
