A deal has been reached between the promoters of WBC mandatory challenger Bermane Stiverne and Chris Arreola, who could fight sometime in April for the heavyweight belt vacated by Vitali Klitschko, WBC Secretary General Mauricio Sulaiman informed RingTV.com.

In accordance with an earlier interview with RingTV.com in which he expressed optimism that a deal would be reached, Sulaiman said that he canceled Friday's purse bid in the wake of the agreement between Stiverne's promoter, Don King, and Arreola's, Dan Goossen.

In his last fight in April, which was designated as a WBC elimination bout for the right to face Klitschko, Stiverne (23-1-1, 20 knockouts) scored a third-round knockdown on the way to a unanimous decision over Arreola (35-3, 30 KOs), whom Klitschko stopped in September of 2009. In his last fight in September, Arreola knocked out Seth Mitchell in the first round.

"Monday we will be sending out more information, but they have 90 days from now to make the fight, so I would say that it will happen in around April," said Sulaiman.

Klitschko, 42, vacated his title to run for president in Ukraine and was subsequently named “Champion Emeritus” by the WBC, granting him the option of being able to return to the ring at any time and be eligible to fight for the title against the reigning beltholder.

Klitschko held the “Champion Emeritus” status when he was out of the ring from 2005 to October of 2008, when he ended his semi-retirement and challenged then-WBC titleholder Samuel Peter, who he stopped in eight rounds.