It will almost certainly be against friend-turned-foe Audley Harrison, in Manchester, on Nov 13.

The Haye-Harrison fight — one of the biggest since Lennox Lewis defeated Frank Bruno almost 17 years ago — is likely to be finalised and announced within two weeks.

The Telegraph understands that discussions are for a pay-per-view event on Sky Sports, and could be the precursor to Manny Pacquiao versus Antonio Margarito, a light-middleweight title contest, later that night in the United States.

Although European champion Harrison, the 2000 Olympic Games superheavyweight gold medallist, is ranked only 13th in the WBA list, and has been dismissed as an also-ran after a decade of verbosity with little to show in the way of performance on the world scene, the contest has intrigue value on British shores.

The two fighters were once been close friends in the England amateur boxing team, and have sparred dozens of rounds with each other in training. Yet last year, they fell out publicly with a war of words, Harrison claiming Haye had turned his back on an old friend. On Nov 13, they can sort it out face-to-face.

Elsewhere, Vitali Klitschko, one of Haye’s rivals, has confirmed he will defend the World Boxing Council heavyweight title against Shannon Briggs in Hamburg on Oct 16.