Tyson Fury says the WBO world heavyweight title may be on the line when he faces Tom Schwarz in Las Vegas on Saturday.
The bout at the MGM Grand will be Fury's first since signing with Top Rank ahead of a likely re-match with WBC champion Deontay Wilder next year.
Andy Ruiz Junior took the IBF, WBA and WBO titles from Anthony Joshua earlier this month and it's expected the Mexican will have to relinquish the WBO strap if his next fight is against Joshua rather than the winner of Schwartz and Fury.
But Fury thinks the WBO may even decide to strip the title before then.
"I'm hearing now that it could be on the line on Saturday night, that's inside information so maybe I shouldn't have said that, though I've said it now anyway, so maybe it'll be on the line on Saturday night.
"There is a chance. It's highly doable, so I've been told, so maybe it'll be for the WBO championship as well.
"When you're the lineal champion that's as big as it gets. It doesn't get any bigger than that. It doesn't matter how many belts (the other heavyweights) have got; they've got to beat Tyson Fury to be number one.
"If not, then the winner of me and Tom Schwarz will be mandatory for the WBO, because it's number three and number two (in the rankings) fighting each other."
The former world champion says he's relishing the chance to fight in Las Vegas for the first time.
"It feels absolutely amazing; fantastic, I've been to the casinos a couple of times. They've got restaurants so I've had a couple of buffets, walked down the strip and back.
"Once you've been here a day you've seen everything. If you've been in one hotel you've seen them all; there's lot of casinos, lots of stuff to do, pool parties, but stuff I can't really enjoy until after the fight. I've got an after-party and pool party; it's going down.
"I'm back where I belong, a year after coming back, back on top of the world as the number one rated heavyweight on the planet."
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