Kali Meehan's Manager claims a fight between his man and David Tua will definitely happen in 2010, despite earlier claims by the Tua camp that they weren't interested in the WBA's No 3 contender.

George Christodolou said he had a verbal assurance from Tua's Manager Cedric Kushner and an email from Tua himself that they wanted the bout.

He said if that happened, the fight would be held in Auckland and would surely be sanctioned by at least one world body as a world title eliminator.

The WBO's Senior Australasian official Danny Leigh said his organisation, which ranks Tua third in the world, would sanction a Meehan-Tua fight as an eliminator, lining up the winner for a shot at the champion, Wladimir Klitschko.

Meehan, a former world title contender, hasn't fought in 15 months but it is possible that by the time he meets Tua, probably in December, he could be a world champion because he will be fighting Germany's Ruslan Chagaev in March next year.