Deontay Wilder might fight someone else before facing Andy Ruiz Jr, according to The Bronze Bomber's trainer Malik Scott.
Wilder has been ordered to face Ruiz next in a WBC final eliminator for a shot at Tyson Fury's heavyweight title.
Ruiz returned to the ring in September, beating Luis Ortiz on points at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Meanwhile Wilder bounced back into the win column with a huge first-round knockout of Robert Helenius last October after back-to-back defeats against the Gypsy King.
Both have welcomed the prospect of facing each other to determine the WBC's next mandatory.
And with the pair both promoted by Premier Boxing Champions, the fight should be a relatively easy one to make.
However, Scott has claimed that it is far from a done deal, as he hinted they could move in a different direction instead.
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Deontay Wilder has been ordered to face Andy Ruiz Jr next in a WBC final eliminator
In an exclusive interview with GIVEMESPORT.com, he said: "Deontay basically has a lot of options because he's big time boxing.
"And if you know anything about big time boxing, when mandatories are set, there's times that they don't take place because bigger fights are at hand for the fans.
"So yeah, there's a mystery guy, we'll see if that's ever announced and if not then we'll be taking Andy Ruiz on. Either way, there's no way anyone on planet Earth can handle a disciplined Deontay Wilder for more than three rounds."
Scott also insisted that Wilder has shown massive signs of improvement in terms of his technical ability despite them working only together for a short period of time.
"We worked on that all camp," he added.
Deontay Wilder pictured with his trainer Malik Scott
"We knew Helenius wasn't good coming forward so we made him walk right into the bomb.
"If you notice Deontay came out and he was doing a lot of you can say lateral some type of lateral movement people weren't used to him doing and the dividends paid off because Helenius fell right into our hands. We knew what he was going to do because to hit Deontay Wilder you have to reach and to reach at Deontay Wilder you're putting your life on the line. Helenius reached so we made him pay for that.
"It's the little things people don't appreciate. Deontay has done the work. Now he deserves his credit for that."
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