Eddie Hearn is confident the WBA featherweight super champion belt will be on the line when Leigh Wood fights Michael Conlan in Nottingham on 12 March.
The promoter expects Leo Santa Cruz to vacate the title having not fought at the weight in two years.
Wood currently holds the sanctioning body’s ‘regular’ world title, but Hearn anticipates the bout being upgraded.
“I’m very confident. It should be,” said the Matchroom chairman.
“Leo Santa Cruz hasn’t boxed in the weight class for years and he still sits at super champion. I’m very confident that this fight will be for the super championship.”
Wood claimed the regular belt in dramatic fashion last July by knocking out then holder Xu Can in the final round.
He faces undefeated Olympic medallist Conlan in his home city of Nottingham in front of what Hearn is confident will be a sell-out crowd at Motorpoint Arena.
Having secured the rights for the fight via purse bids Hearn revealed the winner of the contest would face the victor of Josh Warrington and Kiko Martinez’s IBF featherweight world title showdown on 26 March in a summer unification fight.
“Lots to play for, not just to become world champion on 12 March but the future it’ll give you in the sport of boxing,” Hearn said on the Belfast leg of the press tour on Thursday.
“If Josh Warrington can beat Kiko Martinez, Warrington against Wood or Warrington against Conlan are mega-fights for the sport. We just want to make sure everybody gets in the ring, may the best man win.”
