LAS VEGAS – First things first for heavyweight world titleholder Anthony Joshua.

The Big Brit is set to defend his title for the second time when he meets heavy underdog Eric Molina on Dec. 10 (Showtime) at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

However, as we all know, unless you’ve been under a rock, should Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs) win as expected it would pave the way to a mega fight against former longtime world champion Wladimir Klitschko in March or April in the United Kingdom.

The WBA recently agreed to sanction the fight, pending a Joshua win over Molina (25-3, 19 KOs), for its vacant “super” title, one of the belts troubled Tyson Fury, who dethroned Klitschko (64-4, 54 KOs) by decision last November and then dropped out of the rematch, vacated because of his battle with drugs, alcohol and mental illness.

“We’re very, very close and I hope on Dec. 10, all being well, we would announce the date and the venue for that fight,” Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing told ESPN during a wide-ranging interview in the media center last week at the Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward light heavyweight title fight.

Hearn made the trip to Las Vegas from England partly for business (meaning talks about this and that with HBO) as well as for pleasure because “I wanted to see the fight.”

Hearn said there are two front runners to host Joshua-Klitschko, London’s Wembley Stadium and Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Hearn and the Klitschko camp see this as a fight worthy of a soccer stadium. Either way, the crowd could exceed 70,000.

“It will be made, subject to (Joshua) beating Molina. I believe we’ll announce after the (Joshua-Molina) fight. It’s basically done. They’re very meticulous, and rightfully so, in the contract. They want to make sure everything is perfect.”

Eddie Hearn

Hearn said he was quite confident the fight would be finalized.

“It will be made, subject to (Joshua) beating Molina,” Hearn said. “I believe we’ll announce after the (Joshua-Molina) fight. It’s basically done. They’re very meticulous, and rightfully so, in the contract. They want to make sure everything is perfect.”

But Hearn reiterated there have been no significant issues and that he and Bernd Boente, Klitschko’s manager, are on the same page and moving toward the fight being finalized.

In addition to ironing out Joshua-Klitschko, Hearn is also working on things for his newest heavyweight signing, Miami-based Cuban defector Luis “King Kong” Ortiz, who many view as the most dangerous fighter in the division.

Granted, Ortiz (26-0, 22 KOs) did not much look the part in allowing Malik Scott go the distance with him in a near-shutout on Nov. 12 in Monte Carlo. However, Ortiz scored three official knockdowns and had Scott fleeing for his life for most of the fight.

Down the road, Hearn said he envisions a super fight between Joshua and Ortiz.

Before that, however, Ortiz will be back for his second fight under Hearn’s banner on Dec. 10 on the Joshua-Molina card. He does not yet officially have an opponent but Hearn said Ortiz would likely fight England’s Dave Allen (9-1-1, 6 KOs) in a 10-rounder.

“He’s tough and he has a go,” Hearn said of Allen. “He went 10 rounds with Dillian Whyte (in a loss in July). I just want (Ortiz) to go out and look good. Looking back on the Monte Carlo fight, which was a stinker, obviously, there was quite a lot of hype on his shoulders. We built him up in Monaco, and he’s flown in, first time fighting internationally. Maybe we didn’t factor all these things in and, of course, (he fought) a guy in Malik Scott, which we thought would be two or three rounds. But you saw Malik run. If Anthony Joshua was in the ring with Malik Scott (it goes) one round. So that disappointed me. We learned from it, we move on. Nothing changes in terms of our ambition with Luis Ortiz.”

Indeed, Hearn said he has big plans for him.

“At some point he will become mandatory for the winner of Klitschko and Joshua. That could be June, it could be in September,” Hearn said. “He is also now No. 5 in the IBF. We can’t keep all these belts forever so at some point so if (Joshua has) to vacate the IBF he might fight for the vacant title. He might be mandatory for Joshua.”

Hearn also said that if Ortiz wins Dec. 10, and Dillian Whyte (19-1, 15 KOs) defeats former world title challenger Dereck Chisora (26-6, 18 KOs) on that same card, he wants to match Ortiz and Whyte.

Although some have suggested he signed Ortiz so he could keep him away from Joshua, Hearn said that was nonsense.

“You’d be under more pressure than ever to match him with Joshua,” Hearn said. “There are no excuses not to make the fight. If we wanted to stay away from him I wouldn’t even speak to him. I’d say to the press that guy don’t mean a hill of beans. I’m saying he’s a great fighter, so I’m building the fight. I don’t want Joshua to fight Ortiz for nothing. I want him to fight him in a super fight.”

First Molina, then the Joshua-Klitschko super fight and then maybe one between Joshua and Ortiz. When it comes to the heavyweight division, Hearn seems to be the man with the plan.