Dmitry Bivol could be back in the ring and defending his unified light heavyweight titles against a British star before the year is out.
Bivol is a Russian stylist with great defence and slick boxing skills who became the undisputed light heavyweight king when he avenged his loss to Artur Beterbiev in February 2025, having become the first man to take him the distance in the first fight.
That majority points decision win was hard fought, much like the first fight in October 2024 against the previously unbeaten knockout artist.
Before that, Bivol made more than 14 defences of his WBA title from 2019 to 2024, beating the likes of Canelo Alvarez and Gilberto Ramirez. He was last out in May when he defended his WBA and IBF belts against Michael Eifert, though the WBO strap wasn’t on the line.
In a new post on X, WBO President Gustavo Olivieri has outlined the latest ruling from the WBO regarding their 175lb title and Bivol’s next mandatory defence against Liverpool’s Callum Smith.
“The WBO Championships Committee has granted the parties a final extension, through August 20, 2026, to reach terms for the Mandatory bout, consistent with the WBO’s 1 World Champion per division policy and the objective of eliminating the Interim title.
Should an agreement not be reached by the deadline, purse bid proceedings will be conducted on August 27, 2026, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.”
Smith is a former WBA super-middleweight champion who moved up to light heavyweight in 2024 and failed to dethroned unified champion Artur Beterbiev.
In his last fight in February 2025, he beat Joshua Buatsi to lift the WBO interim title and is now seemingly going to get his chance at the full title held by Bivol, but at 36 years old and after relative inactivity over the last few years, he faces an uphill struggle.
