It all started one night in Munich, just after midnight in front of about 60 weary journalists, cameramen and assorted boxing gophers and it could end in front of 41,000 people in July.

David Haye never went to Germany in February to upset, or fight with, Dereck Chisora and the last thing Chisora needed after 12 torrid rounds in the ring with Vitali Klitschko was another fight. However, the pair did have a fight, the coverage was sensational and in the midnight hour the seeds of a super fight were sown.

On Tuesday, Haye and Chisora came face to face on the pitch at Upton Park, separated by a metal fence and a dozen bouncers to announce their "rematch" at the football ground on July 14. There are, as ever in the boxing business, a lot of extra and complicated details to be overcome before the angry men start trading punches, but it will be a fantastic fight.

A month after the altercation in Germany, Chisora appeared in front of the British Boxing Board of Control and had his licence suspended, which was expected. The board have run boxing in Britain since 1929 and are envied for their superb medical regulations.

Chisora duly appealed, as he was entitled to, and also explored options elsewhere, including the chance to apply for a licence with another sanctioning jurisdiction, which he was also entitled to do.

Haye, meanwhile, made no effort to renew his British licence, which he had surrendered when he retired last October. Haye, it should be remembered, is the only one of the two boxers to have actually thrown a punch during their fight in Munich; Chisora is guilty of acting stupidly rather than aggressively, but that was enough for the board to suspend his licence.

So, last Monday neither Haye nor Chisora held a British licence, but they hadn't been refused a British licence either. So far, these are the facts; now it becomes less clear.

Chisora was given a date for a hearing of early May at around the same time as rumours started to circulate regarding a big fight outside of the board's jurisdiction. It was Haye against Chisora and everybody in the business knew about it for more than two weeks.

At the end of April the board decided to push back Chisora's hearing until late June or early July, while around the same time a press conference was announced for Tuesday of last week.

When the board finally released a date for the hearing – July 2 – it came too late to delay the fight's announcement as Chisora and Haye were already standing either side of the fence at Upton Park, snarling and insulting each other,

Following the fight's announcement, there has been confusion and misinformation. Chisora and Haye have been accused of planning to take part in an illegal event, an event that has being portrayed as something between a riot and a bare- knuckle fight in a pub garden. Chisora has been referred to as a "banned, boxer", which he is not and the fight is not an illegal event.

On Tuesday, it was revealed the fight was made with the assistance of the Luxembourg Boxing Federation, part of the European Boxing Union alongside the British equivalent. It is an odd arrangement, but not unique in Europe, and not one rule had been broken.

The moment the fight was made official the tickets started to sell and there were reports that 17,000 had gone in the first 24 hours. There were also reports, still unconfirmed, that Ricky Burns would be defending his WBO lightweight title on the same night against Kevin Mitchell.

On Wednesday, the board fought back, issuing a strong statement of intent, and warning all of their licence holders that they would lose their licences if they played any role in the promotion. The board's fearsome missive fell short of calling for lifetime bans for anybody getting involved but the language was plain, clear and strong.

The board, it should be remembered, requires everybody on the night of a fight to have one of their licences. This includes the MC, the whip (he gets the fighters from changing room to ring), house seconds (they work the corner for every fight) and all boxers, trainers and managers. A show in Britain would not be easy to put on without the board's co-operation, but not impossible.

"No rules have been broken," insisted Chisora's promoter Frank Warren. "The board made it clear that Dereck was free to apply for a boxing licence in another jurisdiction. This is an outrageous bullying tactic from the board."

Warren has now written to the board seeking clarity over any possible consequences of his involvement in the fight and challenging their stance.

It is hard to understand why the board did not rush forward Chisora's appeal hearing, especially once rumours started to circulate about a fight with Haye, instead of pushing it back six weeks. The reason, according to a board statement, was that one of their legal team was involved in a murder trial.

The fight is on and the fighting outside the ring has started.