Joseph Parker's proposed London fight with Dereck Chisora in April won't happen after the Kiwi heavyweight's handlers ran out of patience with trying to finalise the deal in time.
Parker will now look to start his year with another New Zealand fight with his promoter David Higgins saying: "We have some good options."
Having controversially lost his last British fight after taking on Dillian Whyte at short notice last year, Parker didn't want to compromise his preparations again for a fight against Chisora which would be crucial to making his way back to the top of the division.
Higgins accused the British camp of skulduggery, believing they were drawing out negotiations for the April 20 date to limit Parker's preparations while Chisora was already in full training with his new coach David Coldwell.
"After a good month of trying to make the fight happen and a lot of rhetoric we still don't have a contract," Higgins told Stuff.
"We have signalled in the last week that we are at the 11th hour and that we aren't going to run a shortened camp.
"Dereck Chisora's approach is cowardly. He watched his compatriot Dillian Whyte force Joe into a seven-week camp with home advantage and officials. Instead of trying to run a fair fight with a fair lead-in time – Chisora has been in training for three weeks – they are basically trying to steal a few weeks advantage and home advantage.
"Maybe they thought we were desperate but no, we are calling their bluff, we are out.
"There's a saying that beggars can't be choosers but I'm both so this fight won't be happening on those terms.
"The message to Del Boy [Chisora] is that Joseph will fight him anywhere, any time but on fair terms. That means a decent camp and no officiating controversies we have put up with so far [in the UK].
"If they want the fight we are going to have to talk about new dates and potentially new locations."
The rugged Chisora is no pushover and Parker can't afford a third loss in four fights if he is to get back in the title talk in an increasingly exciting and competitive division.
"The problem here is it's all risk-return. They are asking us to take a big risk for a low return," Higgins said, adding that overnight texts from British promoter Eddie Hearn were too little too late.
"Don't get me wrong, I like Eddie Hearn and David Haye [Chisora's manager]. They are some of the good guys in the business and Hearn has been very busy with the Anthony Joshua-Jarrell Miller announcement. But we have been very politely requesting progress for a month. The fact they are making contact now suggests they were trying to run Joe's camp down."
Higgins has already turned his attentions to Plan B with matchmaker Stuart Duncan sifting through options for a New Zealand fight.