Britain's boxing heroes face further waiting game for much anticipated title challenges

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It is not only in the NHS that waiting times are getting longer and longer.

This starry cluster of British boxing gentlemen are in danger of being jostled back down the line for world title fights.

AMIR KHAN – waiting for Godot has nothing on waiting for Mayweather. It is more than a year since the Bolton speed king was promised his Money fight.

Amir Khan faces a longer wait for Floyd Mayweather as his negotiations continue with Manny Pacquiao

Mayweather (right) and Pacquiao came together to discuss their fight in a Miami hotel suite last week

Floyd Jnr probably is the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world but needs to set about proving it against Manny Pacquiao and Khan before he retires next year.

Mayweather vs Khan was due to happen in Las Vegas last May. The clamour for Money vs PacMan and the time it is taking for that to be confirmed lengthen the odds against that happening this May.

So the lightning Boltonian is now resorting to sending out invitations for a spring ball to the likes of Pacquiao himself, Miguel Cotto, Tim Bradley, Juan Manuel Marquez et al.

Khan (right) is willing to fight Mayweather or Pacquiao (left), if their $300million mega-fight doesn't happen

Khan would like to fight in April but time is running out yet again.

Unless Mayweather pulls the rug out from under the Pacquiao negotiations it threatens to be another long year before Khan fights either of them. Because if Money and the PacMan do it once for their share of the world’s first $300million (£200million) fight, then why not do it again in a September rematch?

Tyson Fury will take on Germany's Christian Hammer following his victory against Dereck Chisora last year

TYSON FURY – is the mandatory challenger to long-reigning unified world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and is all wound up about getting his shot this year. Alternatively, the giant Mancunian traveller would happily challenge Deontay Wilder for the WBC belt which the American has just won.

To stay sharp after his crushing of fellow Brit Dereck Chisora, Fury is taking an interim fight against little-known German Christian Hammer at London’s 02 Arena on February 28.

But there may have to be at least one more of those before Fury’s big moment comes.

Klitschko is not taking his road show to New York on April 25 just for the honour of fighting in the fabled Madison Square Garden for the first time in seven years.

27-year-old heavyweight Hammer is set to fight the Mancunian in a bout on September 28 at the O2 Arena

He says there is ‘a very good reason’ why he is boxing the undefeated Bryant Jennings in a 20,000-capacity arena in the US rather in front of his customary 60,000 crowd in his adopted Germany.

Clearly, he is priming a huge pay-per-view bonanza on American television against Wilder, who is now his country’s first world heavyweight champion for almost a decade and is raising fevered expectation over there that he can end the Klitschko era of domination.

Klitschko’s manager Bernd Boente has taken to listing Fury as the fall-back opponent, while Wlad the Impaler himself is talking about the financial scale of the Wilder fight and the chance to add the WBC belt to his WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine collection.

Since Klitschko-Wilder would not happen until the late summer or early autumn, Fury could be cooling his heels until 2016.

Billy Joe Saunders will be unable to challenge for Andy Lee's WBO middleweight title until mid-summer

BILLY JOE SAUNDERS – is allowing Ireland’s Andy Lee to make a voluntary defence of his WBO middleweight title. His decision to accept a six-figure step-aside payment puts back the Hertford traveller’s challenge until mid-summer at the earliest. If Lee loses to Peter Quillin in America on April 11, that will scotch plans for a football stadium spectacular between Saunders and Lee in either London or Ireland.

In that event Saunders is promised first tilt at Quillin... but new champions tend to seek dispensations for a voluntary defence first. We shall see.

George Groves' comeback since his defeats to Carl Froch have put him in a prime challenger position 

GEORGE GROVES – has fought his way back from those two devastating defeats by Carl Froch to become the official challenger for the WBC world super-middleweight title heroically won by cancer survivor Anthony Dirrell.

However, the WBC have just granted Dirrell a voluntary defence in April before he has to fight Saint George.

When it does come to those talks this American will be no keener to fight in England than his elder brother, given their belief that Andre Dirrell was robbed of the decision when he came to Nottingham to challenge Carl Froch.

James DeGale could fall victim to Andre Dirrell's hesitancy ahead of his mandated fight with the American

JAMES DeGALE may find that the Dirrell reluctance complicates matters for his mandated fight against Andre for the vacant WBO super-middleweight title.

If those negotiations break down, finding another opponent for DeGale could put back promoter Eddie Hearn’s proposed date of April 25 at the O2.

However, as some doors half close at least one other half opens:

Carl Frampton's chances of a fight with Leo Santa Cruz improved and could take place in Belfast this summer

CARL FRAMPTON – suddenly finds his hopes much-improved for a glamorous, trans-Atlantic unification battle, to follow his February 28 mandatory super-bantamweight title defence against Chris Avalos in Belfast.

Leo Santa Cruz was being lined up in America for a multi-belt clash with Cuban maestro Guillermo Rigondeaux.

Golden Boy boss Oscar De La Hoya was close to making that fight, until Santa Cruz joined the stable of boxers being advised by Al Haymon.

The American Svengali has pulled his new boy out of those talks and De La Hoya has sold Santa Cruz’s contract to Haymon.

That re-opens the path for Frampton to meet Santa Cruz in a Belfast stadium this summer…..which gives time for a Battle of Britain against Bury’s Scott Quigg to build up more box office steam.

Unbeaten Kazakh Gennady Golovkin will be a tough opponent for Sheffield's Martin Murray (left) 

This is what we do know for sure:

MARTIN MURRAY – will make his third world middleweight title bid - in Monte Carlo on Saturday, February 21 – albeit against his toughest opponent yet.

After a controversial draw against Felix Sturm in Germany and a narrow defeat by Sergio Martinez in Argentina, Murray takes on the most dangerous puncher in the prize-ring today.

Gennady Golovkin knocks out opponents for fun and it will be a tremendous achievement by the man from Sheffield if he lives up to his promise of becoming the first to defeat the lethal Kazakh.

But at least Murray knows his fight is definitely happening.

PAUL BUTLER and DERRY MATHEWS – have home advantage for their world title shots on the same bill in Liverpool on March 6.

The potentially brilliant Butler will be favourite to dethrone IBB super-flyweight champion Zolani Tete.

Matthews faces a sterner challenge against Cuba’s WBA lightweight champion Richar Abril but will bring his familiar dedication, zeal and persistence to the task.

*Golovkin v Murray will be televised live on Channel 5 on Saturday, February 21

Frampton v Avalos will be live on ITV on Saturday February 28, with Fury v Hammer live on BoxNation the same night.

Tete v Butler and Abril v Matthews will be live on BoxNation on March 6.0